The efficiency of the p-version finite element method in a distributed computing environment

✍ Scribed by Ernst Rank; Martin Rücker; Alexander Düster; Henrike Bröker

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2001
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 783 KB
• Volume: 52
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0029-5981
• DOI: 10.1002/nme.297

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

The p‐version of the finite element method is now commonly considered to be a very accurate discretization method for linear elliptic partial differential equations, but many researchers still doubt the efficiency of this method, when compared to the classical h‐version and applied to more complex problems. This paper will first discuss some general considerations about the efficiency of a numerical method and then present results on an evaluation of the p‐version. It will be shown, that there are many special techniques being applicable to the p‐version, yielding a well‐performing and robust method. This will be demonstrated on several examples, including non‐linear problems and a parallel implementation on a workstation cluster. A client–server software structure for an efficient integration of CAD and FEA using a strict separation of geometric and non‐geometric aspects will also be outlined. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.