Acquisition of a PC Cluster for Geodynamic Modeling

University Of Colorado At Boulder, Boulder CO

Investigators

Abstract

0111412 Zhong This grant provides partial support to build a 24-node dual processor PC Cluster for geodynamic modeling in the geophysics group at the University of Colorado. The PC cluster will be used by the PI, Shijie Zhong, and his group to model viscoelastic deformation for Earth's mantle with 3-D mechanical structure (a project currently funded by the NSF), 3-D thermal convection with temperature-and stress-dependent rheology, and other geophysical problems. The PC cluster will benefit geodetic and gravity modeling and seismic modeling in our geophysics group (Professors John Wahr and Mike Ritzwoller). It will also help us in high performance education for undergraduate and graduate students. The PC cluster may have the following features: 24 nodes each with two Pentium III 866 MHz processors (dual processor), 10-100 bps fast Ethernet communication, and 2 Gbytes RAM and 20 Gbytes disk space per node (total 48 Gbytes RAM and 480 Gbytes disk space for the cluster). We will mainly use the 3-D spherical finite element software CitcomS on the proposed cluster. CitcomS is a piece of software that we have developed specifically for studying thermal convection and viscoelastic deformation. CitcomS has been proven highly efficient on parallel computers including PC clusters. CitcomS along with the PC cluster will enable us to tackle various geodynamic problems with adequate accuracy and resolution. ***