A Multi-Layered Finite Element Application and Runtime System for Scalable High-End Computer Architectures

Old Dominion University Research Foundation, Norfolk VA

Investigators

Abstract

The goal of this research involves the study of high-end parallel finite element mesh generation software capable to deliver and sustain concurrency which will fully utilize current Teraflop and next generation Petaflop high-end architectures. Other than the direct impact to supercomputing this research will have a broader impact to many (bio-) engineering applications that can benefit from scalable field solvers and Teraflop/ Petaflop supercomputers. Such software can also provide challenging and realistic benchmarks which can help to understand the behavior of end-to-end dynamic applications on multi-layered architectures, and thus will be invaluable for the performance evaluation community and design of new supercomputers. The expected outcome of this research is an effective and efficient implementation of adaptive finite element mesh generation and refinement on high-end parallel architectures. However, parallel mesh generation belongs to the broader class of adaptive and irregular applications which are challenging and labor intensive to develop and maintain. As a result, parallel mesh generation is one of the last applications to be installed on parallel architectures. This research will remedy this problem for high-end architectures by focusing on the following objectives. Develop a runtime system for multi-layered parallel adaptive and irregular applications that can efficiently orchestrate intra- and inter-layer data movement and load balancing. Use the runtime system to design an evolutionary approach for developing multi-layered parallel mesh generation software capable of exposing concurrency from the very beginning of the execution and sustaining up to one quadrillion concurrent work units.