A partitioned frontal solver for finite element analysis

A frontal solution program is presented, based on the original work of Irons, published in 1970. The main drawback of the original frontal solution program that the complete front matrix has to reside in core has been overcome by ‘partitioning’ the front matrix. The programming strategy has been optimized to (a) minimize the number of I/O operations on the partitioned front‐matrix (b) optimize the speed of I/O transfer between high speed memory and slow peripheral (or secondary) storage media, and (c) make the program transportable and easily implementable on different types of computers, including mini‐ and micro‐computers.