Potential of minicomputer-array processor system for nonlinear finite-element analysis

Abstract A study is made of the potential of using a minicomputer-array processor system for efficient solution of large-scale nonlinear finite-element problems. A PRIME 750 is used as the host computer, and a software simulator residing on the PRIME is employed to assess the performance of the Floating Point Systems AP-120B array processor. Major hardware characteristics of the system such as virtual memory, parallel and pipeline processing are reviewed and the interplay between various hardware components is examined. Effective use of the minicomputer-array processor system for nonlinear analysis requires the following: (a) proper selection of the computational procedure and the capability to vectorize the numerical algorithms; (b) reduction of I/O operations; and (c) overlapping host and array-processor operations. A detailed discussion is given of techniques to accomplish each of these tasks. Two benchmark problems with 1715 and 3230 degrees of freedom, respectively, are selected to measure the anticipated gain in speed obtained by using the proposed algorithms on the array processor. Results of the study of the two benchmarks indicate that these two problems would run faster on a PRIME 750 coupled with the AP-120B than on the PRIME 750 alone. The 1715 degree-of-freedom problem would run about five times faster, and the 3230 degree-of-freedom problem would run about ten times faster. New advances in array-processor hardware are outlined, and possible improvements in the computational algorithms are discussed. The combination of the two can significantly enhance the effectiveness of the minicomputer-array processor system for large-scale nonlinear analysis.