Accelerated finite element elastodynamic simulations using the GPU
File(s)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Huthwaite, P
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
An approach is developed to perform explicit time domain finite element simulations of elastodynamic problems on the graphical processing unit, using Nvidiaʼs CUDA. Of critical importance for this problem is the arrangement of nodes in memory, allowing data to be loaded efficiently and minimising communication between the independently executed blocks of threads. The initial stage of memory arrangement is partitioning the mesh; both a well established ‘greedy’ partitioner and a new, more efficient ‘aligned’ partitioner are investigated. A method is then developed to efficiently arrange the memory within each partition. The software is applied to three models from the fields of non-destructive testing, vibrations and geophysics, demonstrating a memory bandwidth of very close to the cardʼs maximum, reflecting the bandwidth-limited nature of the algorithm. Comparison with Abaqus, a widely used commercial CPU equivalent, validated the accuracy of the results and demonstrated a speed improvement of around two orders of magnitude. A software package, Pogo, incorporating these developments, is released open source, downloadable from http://www.pogo-fea.com/ to benefit the community.
Date Issued
2014-01-15
Date Acceptance
2013-10-09
Citation
Journal of Computational Physics, 2014, 257 (Part A), pp.687-707
ISSN
0021-9991
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
687
End Page
707
Journal / Book Title
Journal of Computational Physics
Volume
257
Issue
Part A
Copyright Statement
© 2013, Elsevier. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Identifier
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0021999113006931
Subjects
Science & Technology
Technology
Physical Sciences
Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications
Physics, Mathematical
Computer Science
Physics
COMPUTER SCIENCE, INTERDISCIPLINARY APPLICATIONS
PHYSICS, MATHEMATICAL
Finite element
Ultrasound
Elastodynamic
Graphical processing unit
GPU
WAVE-PROPAGATION
GRAPHICS PROCESSORS
MESH GENERATION
FEM
IMPLEMENTATION
ALGORITHMS
DIFFERENCE
SOLVERS
CUDA
FDTD
Publication Status
Published