Evaluation of element stiffness matrices on CDC STAR-100 computer

Abstract An algorithm is presented for the evaluation of the stiffness matrices of higher-order elements on the CDC STAR-100 computer. Discussion is focused on the organization of the computation and the mode of storage of the different arrays to take advantage of the STAR pipeline (streaming) capability. An assessment is made of the performance of the proposed algorithm for generating the stiffness matrices of two higher order composite shallow shell and plate elements having 80 and 176 degrees of freedom. Also, estimates are given of the CPU times required to evaluate the stiffness coefficients of three-dimensional hexahedral elements using the proposed algorithm.