A study on the lumped preconditioner and memory requirements of FETI and related primal domain decomposition methods

In recent years, domain decomposition methods (DDMs) have emerged as advanced solvers in several areas of computational mechanics. In particular, during the last decade, in the area of solid and structural mechanics, they reached a considerable level of advancement and were shown to be more efficient than popular solvers, like advanced sparse direct solvers. The present contribution follows the lines of a series of recent publications on the relationship between primal and dual formulations of DDMs. In some of these papers, the effort to unify primal and dual methods led to a family of DDMs that was shown to be more efficient than the previous methods. The present paper extends this work, presenting a new family of related DDMs, thus enriching the theory of the relations between primal and dual methods, with the primal methods, which correspond to the dual DDM that uses the lumped preconditioner. The paper also compares the numerical performance of the new methods with that of the previous ones and focuses particularly on memory requirement issues related to the use of the lumped preconditioner, suggesting a particularly memory‐efficient formulation. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A fast implementation of the FETI‐DP method: FETI‐DP‐RBS‐LNA and applications on large scale problems with localized non‐linearities

As parallel and distributed computing gradually becomes the computing standard for large scale problems, the domain decomposition method (DD) has received growing attention since it provides a natural basis for splitting a large problem into many small problems, which can be submitted to individual computing nodes and processed in a parallel fashion. This approach not only provides a method to solve large scale problems that are not solvable on a single computer by using direct sparse solvers but also gives a flexible solution to deal with large scale problems with localized non‐linearities. When some parts of the structure are modified, only the corresponding subdomains and the interface equation that connects all the subdomains need to be recomputed. In this paper, the dual–primal finite element tearing and interconnecting method (FETI‐DP) is carefully investigated, and a reduced back‐substitution (RBS) algorithm is proposed to accelerate the time‐consuming preconditioned conjugate gradient (PCG) iterations involved in the interface problems. Linear–non‐linear analysis (LNA) is also adopted for large scale problems with localized non‐linearities based on subdomain linear–non‐linear identification criteria. This combined approach is named as the FETI‐DP‐RBS‐LNA algorithm and demonstrated on the mechanical analyses of a welding problem. Serial CPU costs of this algorithm are measured at each solution stage and compared with that from the IBM Watson direct sparse solver and the FETI‐DP method. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed computational approach for simulating welding problems, which is representative of a large class of three‐dimensional large scale problems with localized non‐linearities. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Theoretical comparison of the FETI and algebraically partitioned FETI methods,and performance comparisons with a direct sparse solver

In this paper, we prove that the Algebraic A‐FETI method corresponds to one particular instance of the original one‐level FETI method. We also report on performance comparisons on an Origin 2000 between the one‐ and two‐level FETI methods and an optimized sparse solver, for two industrial applications: the stress analysis of a thin shell structure, and that of a three‐dimensional structure modelled by solid elements. These comparisons suggest that for topologically two‐dimensional problems, sparse solvers are effective when the number of processors is relatively small. They also suggest that for three‐dimensional applications, scalable domain decomposition methods such as FETI deliver a superior performance on both sequential and parallel hardware configurations. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The nsBETI method: an extension of the FETI method to non‐symmetrical BEM‐FEM coupled problems

The finite element tearing and interconnecting (FETI) method is recognized as an effective domain decomposition tool to achieve scalability in the solution of partitioned second‐order elasticity problems. In the boundary element tearing and interconnecting (BETI) method, a direct extension of the FETI algorithm to the BEM, the symmetric Galerkin BEM formulation, is used to obtain symmetric system matrices, making possible to apply the same FETI conjugate gradient solver. In this work, we propose a new BETI variant labeled nsBETI that allows to couple substructures modeled with the FEM and/or non‐symmetrical BEM formulations. The method connects non‐matching BEM and FEM subdomains using localized Lagrange multipliers and solves the associated non‐symmetrical flexibility equations with a Bi‐CGstab iterative algorithm. Scalability issues of nsBETI in BEM–BEM and combined BEM–FEM coupled problems are also investigated. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Inexact FETI‐DP methods

Inexact FETI‐DP domain decomposition methods are considered. Preconditioners based on formulations of FETI‐DP as a saddle point problem are used which allow for an inexact solution of the coarse problem. A positive definite reformulation of the preconditioned saddle point problem, which also allows for approximate solvers, is considered as well. In the formulation that iterates on the original FETI‐DP saddle point system, it is also possible to solve the local Neumann subdomain problems inexactly. Given good approximate solvers for the local and coarse problems, convergence bounds of the same quality as for the standard FETI‐DP methods are obtained. Numerical experiments which compare the convergence of the inexact methods with that of standard FETI‐DP are shown for 2D and 3D elasticity using GMRES and CG as Krylov space methods. Based on parallel computations, a comparison of one variant of the inexact FETI‐DP algorithms and the standard FETI‐DP method is carried out and similar parallel performance is achieved. Parallel scalability of the inexact variant is also demonstrated. It is shown that for a very large number of subdomains and a very large coarse problem, the inexact method can be superior. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A dual‐primal FETI method for solving a class of fluid–structure interaction problems in the frequency domain

The dual‐primal finite element tearing and interconnecting method (FETI‐DP) is extended to systems of linear equations arising from a finite element discretization for a class of fluid–structure interaction problems in the frequency domain. A preconditioned generalized minimal residual method is used to solve the linear equations for the Lagrange multipliers introduced on the subdomain boundaries to enforce continuity of the solution. The coupling between the fluid and the structure on the fluid–structure interface requires an appropriate choice of coarse level degrees of freedom in the FETI‐DP algorithm to achieve fast convergence. Several choices are proposed and tested by numerical experiments on three‐dimensional fluid–structure interaction problems in the mid‐frequency regime that demonstrate the greatly improved performance of the proposed algorithm over the standard FETI‐DP method. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A FETI‐DP method for the parallel iterative solution of indefinite and complex‐valued solid and shell vibration problems

The dual‐primal finite element tearing and interconnecting (FETI‐DP) domain decomposition method (DDM) is extended to address the iterative solution of a class of indefinite problems of the form ( K ?σ² M ) u = f , and a class of complex problems of the form ( K ?σ² M +iσ D ) u = f , where K , M , and D are three real symmetric matrices arising from the finite element discretization of solid and shell dynamic problems, i is the imaginary complex number, and σ is a real positive number. A key component of this extension is a new coarse problem based on the free‐space solutions of Navier's equations of motion. These solutions are waves, and therefore the resulting DDM is reminiscent of the FETI‐H method. For this reason, it is named here the FETI‐DPH method. For a practically large σ range, FETI‐DPH is shown numerically to be scalable with respect to all of the problem size, substructure size, and number of substructures. The CPU performance of this iterative solver is illustrated on a 40‐processor computing system with the parallel solution, for various σ ranges, of several large‐scale, indefinite, or complex‐valued systems of equations associated with shifted eigenvalue and forced frequency response structural dynamics problems. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A variational framework for fiber‐reinforced viscoelastic soft tissues including damage

Fibrous soft biological tissues such as skin, ligaments, tendons, and arteries are non‐homogeneous composite materials composed of fibers embedded in a ground substance. Cyclic tensile tests on these type of materials usually show a hysteretic stress–strain behavior in which strain rate dependence (viscoelasticity) and softening (Mullins' effect) play a coupled role. The main contribution of the present paper is to present unified variational approach to model both coupled phenomena: nonlinear viscoelasticity and Mullins‐like softening behavior. The approach is labeled as variational because viscous‐strain and damage internal variables are updated based on the minimization of a hyperelastic‐like potential that takes a renewed value at each time step. Numerical examples explores (a) the versatility of the proposed model to account for the two described phenomena according to the chosen functions for the free‐energy and dissipative potentials, (b) the ability of the time‐integration scheme embedded in the incremental potential definition to allow for large time increments, and (c) the capability of the model to mimic experimentally obtained stress–strain cyclic curves of soft tissues. The model implementation on standard finite elements is also tested in which symmetric analytic tangent matrices are used as a natural consequence of the variational nature of the proposed approach. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A time‐parallel implicit method for accelerating the solution of non‐linear structural dynamics problems

The parallel implicit time‐integration algorithm (PITA) is among a very limited number of time‐integrators that have been successfully applied to the time‐parallel solution of linear second‐order hyperbolic problems such as those encountered in structural dynamics. Time‐parallelism can be of paramount importance to fast computations, for example, when space‐parallelism is unfeasible as in problems with a relatively small number of degrees of freedom in general, and reduced‐order model applications in particular, or when reaching the fastest possible CPU time is desired and requires the exploitation of both space‐ and time‐parallelisms. This paper extends the previously developed PITA to the non‐linear case. It also demonstrates its application to the reduction of the time‐to‐solution on a Linux cluster of sample non‐linear structural dynamics problems. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A parallel hp‐FEM infrastructure for three‐dimensional structural acoustics

This paper describes a parallel three‐dimensional numerical infrastructure for the solution of a wide range of time‐harmonic problems in structural acoustics and vibration. High accuracy and rate of error‐convergence, in the mid‐frequency regime,is achieved by the use of hp‐finite and infinite element approximations. The infrastructure supports parallel computation in both single and multi‐frequency settings. Multi‐frequency solves utilize concurrent factoring of the frequency‐dependent linear algebraic systems and are naturally scalable. Scalability of large‐scale single‐frequency problems is realized by using FETI‐DP—an iterative domain‐decomposition scheme. Numerical examples are presented to cover applications in vibratory response of fluid‐filled elastic structures as well as radiation and scattering from elastic structures submerged in an infinite acoustic medium. We demonstrate both the numerical accuracy as well as parallel scalability of the infrastructure in terms of problem parameters that include wavenumber and number of frequencies, polynomial degree of finite/infinite element approximations as well as the number of processors. Scalability and accuracy is evaluated for both single and multiple frequency sweeps on four high‐performance parallel computing platforms: SGI Altix, SGI Origin, IBM p690 SP and Linux‐cluster. Results show good performance on shared as well as distributed‐memory architecture. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A‐scalability and an integrated computational technology and framework for non‐linear structural dynamics. Part 2: Implementation aspects and parallel performance results

An integrated framework and computational technology is described that addresses the issues to foster absolute scalability (A‐scalability) of the entire transient duration of the simulations of implicit non‐linear structural dynamics of large scale practical applications on a large number of parallel processors. Whereas the theoretical developments and parallel formulations were presented in Part 1, the implementation, validation and parallel performance assessments and results are presented here in Part 2 of the paper. Relatively simple numerical examples involving large deformation and elastic and elastoplastic non‐linear dynamic behaviour are first presented via the proposed framework for demonstrating the comparative accuracy of methods in comparison to available experimental results and/or results available in the literature. For practical geometrically complex meshes, the A‐scalability of non‐linear implicit dynamic computations is then illustrated by employing scalable optimal dissipative zero‐order displacement and velocity overshoot behaviour time operators which are a subset of the generalized framework in conjunction with numerically scalable spatial domain decomposition methods and scalable graph partitioning techniques. The constant run times of the entire simulation of ‘fixed‐memory‐use‐per‐processor’ scaling of complex finite element mesh geometries is demonstrated for large scale problems and large processor counts on at least 1024 processors. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Nonlinear heterogeneous dynamic substructuring and partitioned FETI time integration for the development of low‐discrepancy simulation models

This article presents a novel approach to model validation and to the calibration of complex structural systems, through the adoption of heterogeneous (numerical/physical) simulation based on dynamic substructuring (HDS). HDS isolates the physical sub‐system (PS) that contains the key region of nonlinear behavior of interest and is tested experimentally, separate from the remainder of the system, that is, the numerical sub‐system (NS), which is numerically simulated. A parallel partitioned time integrator based on the finite element tearing and interconnecting method plays a central role in solving the coupled system response, enabling a rigorous and stable synchronization between sub‐systems and a realistic interaction between PS and numerical sub‐system response. This feature enhances the quality of benchmarks for validation and calibration of low‐discrepancy models through virtual structural testing. As a proof of concept, we select an old reinforced concrete viaduct, subjected to seismic loading. Several HDS were conducted at the European Laboratory for Structural Assessment in Ispra (Italy) considering two physical piers and related concave sliding bearings as PSs of the heterogeneous system. As a result, the benefit of employing HDS to set benchmarks for model validation and calibration is highlighted, by developing low‐discrepancy FE models of critical viaduct components. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Time‐parallel implicit integrators for the near‐real‐time prediction of linear structural dynamic responses

The time‐parallel framework for constructing parallel implicit time‐integration algorithms (PITA) is revisited in the specific context of linear structural dynamics and near‐real‐time computing. The concepts of decomposing the time‐domain in time‐slices whose boundaries define a coarse time‐grid, generating iteratively seed values of the solution on this coarse time‐grid, and using them to time‐advance the solution in each time‐slice with embarrassingly parallel time‐integrations are maintained. However, the Newton‐based corrections of the seed values, which so far have been computed in PITA and related approaches on the coarse time‐grid, are eliminated to avoid artificial resonance and numerical instability. Instead, the jumps of the solution on the coarse time‐grid are addressed by a projector which makes their propagation on the fine time‐grid computationally feasible while avoiding artificial resonance and numerical instability. The new PITA framework is demonstrated for a complex structural dynamics problem from the aircraft industry. Its potential for near‐real‐time computing is also highlighted with the solution of a relatively small‐scale problem on a Linux cluster system. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Iterative solution of large‐scale acoustic scattering problems with multiple right hand‐sides by a domain decomposition method with Lagrange multipliers

An extension of the FETI‐H method is designed for the solution of acoustic scattering problems with multiple right‐hand sides. A new local pre‐conditioning of this domain decomposition method is also presented. The potential of the resulting iterative solver is demonstrated by numerical experiments for two‐dimensional problems with high wavenumbers, as many as 2.5 million complex degrees of freedom, and a sweep on the angle of the incident wave. Preliminary results for a three‐dimensional submarine problem are also included. The FETI‐H method, whose numerical scalability with respect to the mesh and subdomain sizes was previously established, is shown here to be also numerically scalable with respect to the wavenumber. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Improved recovery of admissible stress in domain decomposition methods — application to heterogeneous structures and new error bounds for FETI‐DP

This paper investigates the question of the building of admissible stress field in a substructured context. More precisely, we analyze the special role played by multiple points. This study leads to (1) an improved recovery of the stress field, (2) an opportunity to minimize the estimator in the case of heterogeneous structures (in the parallel and sequential case), and (3) a procedure to build admissible fields for dual‐primal finite element tearing and interconnecting and balancing domain decomposition by constraints methods leading to an error bound that separates the contributions of the solver and of the discretization. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A three‐dimensional computational procedure for reproducing meshless methods and the finite element method

A flexible computational procedure for solving 3D linear elastic structural mechanics problems is presented that currently uses three forms of approximation function (natural neighbour, moving least squares—using a new nearest neighbour weight function—and Lagrange polynomial) and three types of integration grids to reproduce the natural element method and the finite element method. The addition of more approximation functions, which is not difficult given the structure of the code, will allow reproduction of other popular meshless methods. Results are presented that demonstrate the ability of the first‐order meshless approximations to capture solutions more accurately than first‐order finite elements. Also, the quality of integration for the three types of integration grids is compared. The concept of a region is introduced, which allows the splitting of a domain into different sections, each with its own type of approximation function and spatial integration scheme. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Parallel Strategy for the Logical‐probabilistic Calculus‐based Method to Calculate Two‐terminal Reliability

The theory of network reliability has been applied to many complicated network structures, such as computer and communication networks, piping systems, electricity networks, and traffic networks. The theory is used to evaluate the operational performance of networks that can be modeled by probabilistic graphs. Although evaluating network reliability is an Non‐deterministic Polynomial‐time hard problem, numerous solutions have been proposed. However, most of them are based on sequential computing, which under‐utilizes the benefits of multi‐core processor architectures. This paper addresses this limitation by proposing an efficient strategy for calculating the two‐terminal (terminal‐pair) reliability of a binary‐state network that uses parallel computing. Existing methods are analyzed. Then, an efficient method for calculating terminal‐pair reliability based on logical‐probabilistic calculus is proposed. Finally, a parallel version of the proposed algorithm is developed. This is the first study to implement an algorithm for estimating terminal‐pair reliability in parallel on multi‐core processor architectures. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm and its parallel version outperform an existing sequential algorithm in terms of execution time. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A unified dual‐primal finite element tearing and interconnecting approach for incompressible Stokes equations

A unified framework of dual‐primal finite element tearing and interconnecting (FETI‐DP) algorithms is proposed for solving the system of linear equations arising from the mixed finite element approximation of incompressible Stokes equations. A distinctive feature of this framework is that it allows using both continuous and discontinuous pressures in the algorithm, whereas previous FETI‐DP methods only apply to discontinuous pressures. A preconditioned conjugate gradient method is used in the algorithm with either a lumped or a Dirichlet preconditioner, and scalable convergence rates are proved. This framework is also used to describe several previously developed FETI‐DP algorithms and greatly simplifies their analysis. Numerical experiments of solving a two‐dimensional incompressible Stokes problem demonstrate the performances of the discussed FETI‐DP algorithms represented under the same framework.Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Multilayered grouping parallel algorithm for multiple‐level multiscale analyses

Multiscale analysis technique became a successful remedy to complicated problems in which nonlinear behavior is linked with microscopic damage mechanisms. For efficient parallel multiscale analyses, hierarchical grouping algorithms (e.g., the two‐level ‘coarse‐grained’ method) have been suggested and proved superior over a simple parallelization. Here, we expanded the two‐level algorithm to give rise to a multilayered grouping parallel algorithm suitable for large‐scale multiple‐level multiscale analyses. With practical large‐scale applications, we demonstrated the superior performance of multilayered grouping over the coarse‐grained method. Notably, we show that the unique data transfer rates of the symmetric multiprocessor cluster system can lead to the seemingly ‘super‐linear speedup’ and that there appears to exist the optimal number of subgroups of three‐tiered multiscale analysis. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Efficient numerical methods for the large‐scale,parallel solution of elastoplastic contact problems

Quasi‐static elastoplastic contact problems are ubiquitous in many industrial processes and other contexts, and their numerical simulation is consequently of great interest in accurately describing and optimizing production processes. The key component in these simulations is the solution of a single load step of a time iteration. From a mathematical perspective, the problems to be solved in each time step are characterized by the difficulties of variational inequalities for both the plastic behavior and the contact problem. Computationally, they also often lead to very large problems. In this paper, we present and evaluate a complete set of methods that are (1) designed to work well together and (2) allow for the efficient solution of such problems. In particular, we use adaptive finite element meshes with linear and quadratic elements, a Newton linearization of the plasticity, active set methods for the contact problem, and multigrid‐preconditioned linear solvers. Through a sequence of numerical experiments, we show the performance of these methods. This includes highly accurate solutions of a three‐dimensional benchmark problem and scaling our methods in parallel to 1024 cores and more than a billion unknowns. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.