PARALLEL FINITE-ELEMENT METHODS FOR LARGE-SCALE COMPUTATION OF STORM SURGES AND TIDAL FLOWS

Massively parallel finite element methods for large-scale computation of storm surges and tidal flows are discussed here. The finite element computations, carried out using unstructured grids, are based on a th ree-step explicit formulation and on an implicit space-time formulatio n. parallel implementations of these unstructured grid-based formulati ons are carried out on the Fujitsu Highly Parallel Computer AP1000 and on the Thinking Machines CM-5. Simulations of the storm surge accompa nying the Ise-Bay typhoon in 1959 and of the tidal flow in Tokyo Bay s erve as numerical examples. The impact of parallelization on this type of simulation is also investigated. The present methods are shown to be useful and powerful tools for the analysis of storm surges and tida l flows. (C) 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.