Non-linear explicit transient finite element analysis on the Intel Delta

Many large-scale finite element problems are intractable on current generation production supercomputers. High-performance computer architectures offer effective avenues to bridge the gap between computational needs and the power of computational hardware. The biggest challenge lies in the substitution of the key algorithms in an application program with redesigned algorithms which exploit the new architectures and use better or more appropriate numerical techniques. A methodology for implementing non-linear finite element analysis on a homogeneous distributed processing network is discussed. The method can also be extended to heterogeneous networks comprised of different machine architectures provided that they have a mutual communication interface. This unique feature has greatly facilitated the port of the code to the 8-node Intel Touchstone Gamma and then the 512-node Intel Touchstone Delta. The domain is decomposed serially in a preprocessor. Separate input files are written for each subdomain. These files are read in by local copies of the program executable operating in parallel. Communication between processors is addressed utilizing asynchronous and synchronous message passing. The basic kernel of message passing is the internal force exchange which is analogous to the computed interactions between sections of physical bodies in static stress analysis. Benchmarks for the Intel Delta are presented. Performance exceeding 1 gigaflop was attained. Results for two large-scale finite element meshes are presented.