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The fast solution of three-dimensional fluid dynamical N-body problems using parallel tree codes: Vortex element method and boundary element method

Conference ·
OSTI ID:125522
 [1]; ;  [2]
  1. Univ. of Sherbrooke (Canada)
  2. California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA (United States); and others

A fast parallel oct-tree code originally developed for three-dimensional N-body gravitational simulations was transformed into (1) a fast N-vortex code for viscous and inviscid vortical flow computations using the regularized vortex particle method (VEM) and (2) a fast N-panel code for solving boundary integral equations in potential flow aerodynamics using the boundary element method (BEM). The core of the fast tree code remains essentially unchanged between the different application codes. Only the {open_quotes}physics{close_quotes} modules are changed. Particular attention is given to controlling the error introduced by the use of multipole expansions to represent groups of elements, i.e., the {open_quote}tree code error{close_quotes}. In particular, the acceptable error bound for use of any multipole expansion approximation is a run-time parameter. Problems in VEM and BEM involving N in the range 103 to over 106 are computed on the Intel Touchstone Delta, an MIMD computer with up to 512 processors. Performance results are presented.

OSTI ID:
125522
Report Number(s):
CONF-950212--
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English