NASA high performance computing and communications program

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's HPCC program is part of a new Presidential initiative aimed at producing a 1000-fold increase in supercomputing speed and a 100-fold improvement in available communications capability by 1997. As more advanced technologies are developed under the HPCC program, they will be used to solve NASA's 'Grand Challenge' problems, which include improving the design and simulation of advanced aerospace vehicles, allowing people at remote locations to communicate more effectively and share information, increasing scientist's abilities to model the Earth's climate and forecast global environmental trends, and improving the development of advanced spacecraft. NASA's HPCC program is organized into three projects which are unique to the agency's mission: the Computational Aerosciences (CAS) project, the Earth and Space Sciences (ESS) project, and the Remote Exploration and Experimentation (REE) project. An additional project, the Basic Research and Human Resources (BRHR) project exists to promote long term research in computer science and engineering and to increase the pool of trained personnel in a variety of scientific disciplines. This document presents an overview of the objectives and organization of these projects as well as summaries of individual research and development programs within each project

Software Support for Irregular and Loosely Synchronous Problems

A large class of scientific and engineering applications may be classified as irregular and loosely synchronous from the perspective of parallel processing. We present a partial classification of such problems. This classification has motivated us to enhance Fortran D to provide language support for irregular, loosely synchronous problems. We present techniques for parallelization of such problems in the context of Fortran D

Software Support for Irregular and Loosely Synchronous Problems

A large class of scientific and engineering applications may be classified as irregular and loosely synchronous from the perspective of parallel processing. We present a partial classification of such problems. This classification has motivated us to enhance Fortran D to provide language support for irregular, loosely synchronous problems. We present techniques for parallelization of such problems in the context of Fortran D

Semiannual final report, 1 October 1991 - 31 March 1992

A summary of research conducted at the Institute for Computer Applications in Science and Engineering in applied mathematics, numerical analysis, and computer science during the period 1 Oct. 1991 through 31 Mar. 1992 is presented

Semiannual report, 1 October 1990 - 31 March 1991

Research conducted at the Institute for Computer Applications in Science and Engineering in applied mathematics, numerical analysis, and computer science is summarized

Implementation of ADI: Schemes on MIMD parallel computers

In order to simulate the effects of the impingement of hot exhaust jets of High Performance Aircraft on landing surfaces a multi-disciplinary computation coupling flow dynamics to heat conduction in the runway needs to be carried out. Such simulations, which are essentially unsteady, require very large computational power in order to be completed within a reasonable time frame of the order of an hour. Such power can be furnished by the latest generation of massively parallel computers. These remove the bottleneck of ever more congested data paths to one or a few highly specialized central processing units (CPU's) by having many off-the-shelf CPU's work independently on their own data, and exchange information only when needed. During the past year the first phase of this project was completed, in which the optimal strategy for mapping an ADI-algorithm for the three dimensional unsteady heat equation to a MIMD parallel computer was identified. This was done by implementing and comparing three different domain decomposition techniques that define the tasks for the CPU's in the parallel machine. These implementations were done for a Cartesian grid and Dirichlet boundary conditions. The most promising technique was then used to implement the heat equation solver on a general curvilinear grid with a suite of nontrivial boundary conditions. Finally, this technique was also used to implement the Scalar Penta-diagonal (SP) benchmark, which was taken from the NAS Parallel Benchmarks report. All implementations were done in the programming language C on the Intel iPSC/860 computer

Cumulative reports and publications

A complete list of Institute for Computer Applications in Science and Engineering (ICASE) reports are listed. Since ICASE reports are intended to be preprints of articles that will appear in journals or conference proceedings, the published reference is included when it is available. The major categories of the current ICASE research program are: applied and numerical mathematics, including numerical analysis and algorithm development; theoretical and computational research in fluid mechanics in selected areas of interest to LaRC, including acoustics and combustion; experimental research in transition and turbulence and aerodynamics involving LaRC facilities and scientists; and computer science

Modélisation des problèmes de grandes déformations multi-domaines par une approche Eulérienne monolithique massivement parallèle

Modeling of multi-domain problems is addressed in a Purely Eulerian framework. A single mesh is used all over the domain. The evolution of the different interacting bodies is described using numerical tools such as the Level Set method. The characteristics of the subdomains, considered as heterogeneities in the mesh, are determined using mixture laws.This work is one of the first attempts applying fully Eulerian Approach to Model large deformation problems. Therefore, the capacity of this approach is tested to determine necessary developments. The friction between the different objects is managed by adding a boundary layer implying the presence of a lubricant. Combined with an identification technique, a new quadratic mixture Law is introduced to determine the lubricant viscosity. Comparisons have been performed with Forge® and results were found satisfactory. To treat the contact problem between the different objects, a directional solver was developed. Despite the interesting results, it remains the topic of further improvements. The scalability of the approach in a massively parallel environment is tested as well. Several recommendations were proposed to ensure an optimal performance. The technique of a single mesh guarantees a very good scalability since the efficiency of parallelism depends of the partition of a single mesh (unlike the Lagrangian Methods). The proposed method presents undeniable capacities but remains far from being complete. Ideas for future Improvements are proposed accordingly.La modélisation des problèmes multi-domaine est abordée dans un cadre purement Eulérien. Un maillage unique, ne représentant plus la matière, est utilisé. Les différentes frontières et leur évolution sont décrites via des outils numériques tels que la méthode Level Set. Les caractéristiques locales de chaque sous domaines sont déterminées par des lois de mélange.Ce travail est une des premières tentations appliquant une approche Eulérienne pour modéliser de problèmes de grandes déformations. Dans un premier temps, la capacité de l'approche est testée afin de déterminer les développements nécessaires.Le frottement entre les différents objets est géré par un lubrifiant ajouté dans une couche limite. Combinée avec une technique d'identification, une nouvelle loi de mélange quadratique est introduite pour décrire la viscosité du lubrifiant. Des comparaisons ont été effectuées avec Forge® et les résultats sont trouvés satisfaisants. Pour traiter le contact entre les différents objets, un solveur directionnel a été développé. Malgré que les résultats soient intéressants, il reste le sujet de nouvelles améliorations. La scalabilité de l'approche dans un environnement massivement parallèle est testée aussi. Plusieurs recommandations ont été proposées pour s'assurer d'une performance optimale. La technique du maillage unique permet d'obtenir une très bonne scalabilité. L'efficacité du parallélisme ne dépend que de la partition d'un seul maillage (contrairement aux méthodes Lagrangiennes). La méthode proposée présente des capacités indéniables mais reste loin d'être complète. Des pistes d'amélioration sont proposées en conséquence