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At least 1,585 records · Page 88

Implementation of an Eta Belt Domain on Parallel Systems

We extend the Eta weather model from a regional domain into a belt domain that does not require meridional boundary conditions. We describe how the extension is achieved and the parallel implementation of the code on the Cray T3E and the SGI Origin 2000. We validate the forecast results on the two platforms and examine how the removal of the meridional boundary conditions affects these forecasts. In addition, using several domains of different sizes and resolutions, we present the scaling performance of the code on both systems.

Kouatchou, Jules↗

SUPREM-DSMC: A New Scalable, Parallel, Reacting, Multidimensional Direct Simulation Monte Carlo Flow Code

An AFRL/NRL team has recently been selected to develop a scalable, parallel, reacting, multidimensional (SUPREM) Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) code for the DoD user community under the High Performance Computing Modernization Office (HPCMO) Common High Performance Computing Software Support Initiative (CHSSI). This paper will introduce the JANNAF Exhaust Plume community to this three-year development effort and present the overall goals, schedule, and current status of this new code.

Campbell, David↗

A Parallel Genetic Algorithm for Automated Electronic Circuit Design

We describe a parallel genetic algorithm (GA) that automatically generates circuit designs using evolutionary search. A circuit-construction programming language is introduced and we show how evolution can generate practical analog circuit designs. Our system allows circuit size (number of devices), circuit topology, and device values to be evolved. We present experimental results as applied to analog filter and amplifier design tasks.

Lohn, Jason D.↗

Parallel Unsteady Turbopump Simulations for Liquid Rocket Engines

This paper reports the progress being made towards complete turbo-pump simulation capability for liquid rocket engines. Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) turbo-pump impeller is used as a test case for the performance evaluation of the MPI and hybrid MPI/Open-MP versions of the INS3D code. Then, a computational model of a turbo-pump has been developed for the shuttle upgrade program. Relative motion of the grid system for rotor-stator interaction was obtained by employing overset grid techniques. Time-accuracy of the scheme has been evaluated by using simple test cases. Unsteady computations for SSME turbo-pump, which contains 136 zones with 35 Million grid points, are currently underway on Origin 2000 systems at NASA Ames Research Center. Results from time-accurate simulations with moving boundary capability, and the performance of the parallel versions of the code will be presented in the final paper.

Kiris, Cetin C.↗

Parallel Unsteady Turbopump Flow Simulations for Reusable Launch Vehicles

An efficient solution procedure for time-accurate solutions of Incompressible Navier-Stokes equation is obtained. Artificial compressibility method requires a fast convergence scheme. Pressure projection method is efficient when small time-step is required. The number of sub-iteration is reduced significantly when Poisson solver employed with the continuity equation. Both computing time and memory usage are reduced (at least 3 times). Other work includes Multi Level Parallelism (MLP) of INS3D, overset connectivity for the validation case, experimental measurements, and computational model for boost pump.

Kiris, Cetin↗

Performance Measurement, Visualization and Modeling of Parallel and Distributed Programs

This paper presents a methodology for debugging the performance of message-passing programs on both tightly coupled and loosely coupled distributed-memory machines. The AIMS (Automated Instrumentation and Monitoring System) toolkit, a suite of software tools for measurement and analysis of performance, is introduced and its application illustrated using several benchmark programs drawn from the field of computational fluid dynamics. AIMS includes (i) Xinstrument, a powerful source-code instrumentor, which supports both Fortran77 and C as well as a number of different message-passing libraries including Intel's NX Thinking Machines' CMMD, and PVM; (ii) Monitor, a library of timestamping and trace -collection routines that run on supercomputers (such as Intel's iPSC/860, Delta, and Paragon and Thinking Machines' CM5) as well as on networks of workstations (including Convex Cluster and SparcStations connected by a LAN); (iii) Visualization Kernel, a trace-animation facility that supports source-code clickback, simultaneous visualization of computation and communication patterns, as well as analysis of data movements; (iv) Statistics Kernel, an advanced profiling facility, that associates a variety of performance data with various syntactic components of a parallel program; (v) Index Kernel, a diagnostic tool that helps pinpoint performance bottlenecks through the use of abstract indices; (vi) Modeling Kernel, a facility for automated modeling of message-passing programs that supports both simulation -based and analytical approaches to performance prediction and scalability analysis; (vii) Intrusion Compensator, a utility for recovering true performance from observed performance by removing the overheads of monitoring and their effects on the communication pattern of the program; and (viii) Compatibility Tools, that convert AIMS-generated traces into formats used by other performance-visualization tools, such as ParaGraph, Pablo, and certain AVS/Explorer modules.

Yan, Jerry C.↗

Parallel Programming Strategies for Irregular Adaptive Applications

Achieving scalable performance for dynamic irregular applications is eminently challenging. Traditional message-passing approaches have been making steady progress towards this goal; however, they suffer from complex implementation requirements. The use of a global address space greatly simplifies the programming task, but can degrade the performance for such computations. In this work, we examine two typical irregular adaptive applications, Dynamic Remeshing and N-Body, under competing programming methodologies and across various parallel architectures. The Dynamic Remeshing application simulates flow over an airfoil, and refines localized regions of the underlying unstructured mesh. The N-Body experiment models two neighboring Plummer galaxies that are about to undergo a merger. Both problems demonstrate dramatic changes in processor workloads and interprocessor communication with time; thus, dynamic load balancing is a required component.

Biswas, Rupak↗

National Combustion Code: Parallel Performance

This report discusses the National Combustion Code (NCC). The NCC is an integrated system of codes for the design and analysis of combustion systems. The advanced features of the NCC meet designers' requirements for model accuracy and turn-around time. The fundamental features at the inception of the NCC were parallel processing and unstructured mesh. The design and performance of the NCC are discussed.

Babrauckas, Theresa↗

Performance Metrics for Monitoring Parallel Program Executions

Existing tools for debugging performance of parallel programs either provide graphical representations of program execution or profiles of program executions. However, for performance debugging tools to be useful, such information has to be augmented with information that highlights the cause of poor program performance. Identifying the cause of poor performance necessitates the need for not only determining the significance of various performance problems on the execution time of the program, but also needs to consider the effect of interprocessor communications of individual source level data structures. In this paper, we present a suite of normalized indices which provide a convenient mechanism for focusing on a region of code with poor performance and highlights the cause of the problem in terms of processors, procedures and data structure interactions. All the indices are generated from trace files augmented with data structure information.. Further, we show with the help of examples from the NAS benchmark suite that the indices help in detecting potential cause of poor performance, based on augmented execution traces obtained by monitoring the program.

Sarukkai, Sekkar R.↗

Performance and the NAS Parallel Benchmarks

This talk will describe the NAS (National Aerospace Standards) Parallel Benchmarks, which are now widely cited in the high performance computing field as a measure of sustained performance on realistic scientific applications. The latest performance results will be included. It will be shown that significant progress has been made by several systems during the past year or so, with sustained performance on a par with the best conventional systems, and with performance per dollar significantly exceeding the conventional systems. This talk will also describe many of the pitfalls of performance reporting, and will give advice on how to avoid such pitfalls. The overall state of the field of high performance computing will also be discussed.

Bailey, David H.↗

A Portable Debugger for Parallel and Distributed Programs

In this paper, we describe the design and implementation of a portable debugger for parallel and distributed programs. The design incorporates a client-server model in order to isolate non-portable debugger code from the user interface. The precise definition of a protocol for client-server interaction permits a high degree of portability of the client user interface. Replication of server components permits the implementation of a debugger for distributed computations. Portability across message passing implementations is achieved with a protocol that dictates the interaction between a message passing library and the debugger. This permits the same debugger to be used both on PVM and MTI programs. The process abstractions used for debugging message-passing programs can be easily adapted to debug HPF programs at the source level. This allows the debugger to present information hidden in tool-generated code in a meaningful manner.

Cheng, Doreen Y.↗

A Parallel Multigrid Solver for Viscous Flows on Anisotropic Structured Grids

This paper presents an efficient parallel multigrid solver for speeding up the computation of a 3-D model that treats the flow of a viscous fluid over a flat plate. The main interest of this simulation lies in exhibiting some basic difficulties that prevent optimal multigrid efficiencies from being achieved. As the computing platform, we have used Coral, a Beowulf-class system based on Intel Pentium processors and equipped with GigaNet cLAN and switched Fast Ethernet networks. Our study not only examines the scalability of the solver but also includes a performance evaluation of Coral where the investigated solver has been used to compare several of its design choices, namely, the interconnection network (GigaNet versus switched Fast-Ethernet) and the node configuration (dual nodes versus single nodes). As a reference, the performance results have been compared with those obtained with the NAS-MG benchmark.

Prieto, Manuel↗

Techniques and Tools for Performance Tuning of Parallel and Distributed Scientific Applications

Performance degradation in scientific computing on parallel and distributed computer systems can be caused by numerous factors. In this half-day tutorial we explain what are the important methodological issues involved in obtaining codes that have good performance potential. Then we discuss what are the possible obstacles in realizing that potential on contemporary hardware platforms, and give an overview of the software tools currently available for identifying the performance bottlenecks. Finally, some realistic examples are used to illustrate the actual use and utility of such tools.

Sarukkai, Sekhar R.↗

Simulation of Unsteady Combustion in a Ramjet Engine Using a Highly Parallel Computer

Combustion instability in ramjets is a complex phenomenon that involve nonlinear interaction between acoustic waves, vortex motion and unsteady heat release in the combustor. To numerically simulate this 3-D, transient phenomenon, enormous computer resources (time, memory and disk storage) are required. Although current generation vector supercomputers are capable of providing adequate resources for simulations of this nature, their high cost and limited availability, makes such machines less than satisfactory for routine use. The primary focus of this study is to assess the feasibility of using highly parallel computer systems as a cost-effective alternative for conducting such unsteady flow simulations. Towards this end, a large-eddy simulation model for combustion instability was implemented on the Intel iPSC/860 and a careful study was conducted to determine the benefits and the problems associated with the use of such machines for transient simulations. Details of this study along with the results obtained from the unsteady combustion simulations carried out on the iPSC/860 are discussed in this paper.

Menon, Suresh↗

Parallel Domain Decomposition Preconditioning for Computational Fluid Dynamics

This viewgraph presentation gives an overview of the parallel domain decomposition preconditioning for computational fluid dynamics. Details are given on some difficult fluid flow problems, stabilized spatial discretizations, and Newton's method for solving the discretized flow equations. Schur complement domain decomposition is described through basic formulation, simplifying strategies (including iterative subdomain and Schur complement solves, matrix element dropping, localized Schur complement computation, and supersparse computations), and performance evaluation.

Barth, Timothy J.↗

Pilot Non-Conformance to Alerting System Commands During Closely Spaced Parallel Approaches

Cockpit alerting systems monitor potentially hazardous situations, both inside and outside the aircraft. When a hazard is projected to occur, the alerting system displays alerts and/or command decisions to the pilot. However, pilots have been observed to not conform to alerting system commands by delaying their response or by not following the automatic commands exactly. This non-conformance to the automatic alerting system can reduce its benefit. Therefore, a need exists to understand the causes and effects of pilot non-conformance in order to develop automatic alerting systems whose commands the pilots are more likely to follow. These considerations were examined through flight simulator evaluations of the collision avoidance task during closely spaced parallel approaches. This task provided a useful case-study because the effects of non-conformance can be significant, given the time-critical nature of the task. A preliminary evaluation of alerting systems identified non-conformance in over 40% of the cases and a corresponding drop in collision avoidance performance. A follow-on experiment found subjects' alerting and maneuver selection criteria were consistent with different strategies than those used by automatic systems, indicating the pilot may potentially disagree with the alerting system if the pilot attempts to verify automatic alerts and commanded avoidance maneuvers. A final experiment found supporting automatic alerts with the explicit display of its underlying criteria resulted in more consistent subject reactions. In light of these experimental results, a general discussion of pilot non-conformance is provided. Contributing factors in pilot non-conformance include a lack of confidence in the automatic system and mismatches between the alerting system's commands and the pilots' own decisions based on the information available to them. The effects of non-conformance on system performance are discussed. Possible methods of reconciling mismatches are given, and design considerations for alerting systems which alleviate the problem of non-conformance are provided.

Pritchett, Amy Ruth↗