CONVERSION OF A SINGLE PROCESS CFD CODE TO DISTRIBUTED AND MASSIVELY-PARALLEL PROCESSING

An existing computational fluid dynamics (CFD) computer code was conve rted from a single process execution mode to one employing both massiv ely parallel processing (MPP) on an nCUBE MPP computer using the nativ e nCUBE message passing application programmers interface (API) and di stributed processing (DP) on a cluster of workstations using the Paral lel Virtual Machine (PVM) API for message passing. Specifications for the conversion included the ability to easily incorporate new message passing API's, automatic decomposition and distribution of a problem t o the different processors, direct node to node communication, and the same user interface as in the single process mode. There was also a s trong desire to have a single code which could be compiled to run in a ny programmed message passing API, in the multitasking parallel proces sing mode already in the code, and in single process mode. These crite ria produced a single code which eliminates the concern associated wit h maintaining multiple versions of a code, provides efficient communic ation, and minimizes the learning curve for users not conversant with the mechanics of distributed processing. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevie r Science Limited. All rights reserved.