Software Framework for Parallel BEM Analyses with H-matrices Using MPI and OpenMP

Abstract

A software framework has been developed for use in parallel boundary element method (BEM) analyses. The framework program was parallelized in a hybrid parallel programming model, and both multiple processes and threads were used. Additionally, an H-matrix library for a distributed memory parallel computer was also developed to accelerate the analysis. In this paper, we describe the basic design concept for the framework and details of its implementation. The framework program, which was written with MPI functions and OpenMP directives, is mainly intended to reduce the user’s parallel programming costs. We also show the results of a sample analysis performed with approximately 60, 000 unknowns. The numerical results verify the effectiveness of both the parallelization and the H-matrix method. In the test analysis, which was performed using a single core, the H-matrix version of the framework is 17-fold faster than the dense matrix version. The parallel framework program with the H-matrix attains an approximately 50-fold acceleration using 128 cores when compared with sequential computation.