Parallel Computing in Structural Engineering: a Substructure Based Approach

Parallel solution techniques have been implemented in many finite element codes in consequence of the increased availability of parallel computers. Extensive research on solution algorithms has been conducted over the last twenty years. Currently, solution methods may be based on global, element by element or domain by domain strategies. Their performance may, however, be limited depending on the type of the analysis, the parallel environment, and the structural properties of a system. This book provides an extensive literature survey on parallel solvers, partitioning, and repartitioning techniques utilized for the solution of finite element models and focuses on the development of a substructure based parallel solution framework for PC cluster systems. The framework involves a workload balancing method in order to prepare the best possible substructures for the fastest solution. It is anticipated that combining advanced solvers, ordering, partitioning, and repartitioning algorithms together in a single framework for solving actual structural engineering models will prove to be useful to those working in the area of scientific computing.