A frontal technique for vector computers

✍ Scribed by Luisa Brusa; Francesca Riccio

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1989
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 639 KB
• Volume: 28
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0029-5981
• DOI: 10.1002/nme.1620280712

✦ Synopsis

At the kernel of most scientific computations lies the solution of linear equations which, in finite element codes, is often performed by the frontal method. This method, like many algorithms for sparse matrices, is usually implemented with extensive use of indirect addressing which scarcely benefits from vectorization. AS a consequence, present application codes only partially exploit the innovative features of supercomputer architectures. This paper describes a new version of the frontal technique which is designed for CRAY-like computers and is well suited to vector processing. Numerical tests have shown that the proposed algorithm is effective in improving the efficiency of finite element solutions on a vector machine.

*The work described in this paper has been carried out in the framework of a 1988 contract between ENEL and CISE