Heuristic Algorithms for Automatic Graph Partitioning

Practical implementations of the Finite Element method on distributed memory multi-computer systems necessitate the use of partitioning tools to subdivide the mesh into sub-meshes of roughly equal size. Graph partitioning algorithms are mandatory when implementing distributed sparse matrix methods or domain decomposition techniques for irregularly structured problems, on parallel computers. We propose a class of algorithms which are based on level set expansions from a number of center nodes. A critical component of these methods is the location of these centers. We present a number of diierent strategies for nding centers which lead to good-quality partitionings.