Architecture and applications of the Navier-Stokes Computer

Thesis/Dissertation · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1991

OSTI ID:7046526

Flannery, W S

A novel parallel processing supercomputer, called the Navier-Stokes Computer (NSG), has been designed and built for the solution of scientific problems. As the name suggests, applications in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) were the primary focus of the effort. An evolutionary design process, based on an in-depth study, starting from the fundamental equations of motion, moving next to discretization, and ending with implementation, was followed for the architecture. Contrary to its name, the NSC is general-purpose with an architecture that features multiple levels of reconfigurable parallelism. At the highest level the Navier-Stokes Computer employs a coarse-grained spatial parallelism comprised of a number of powerful (equivalent to a Class VI supercomputer), large-capacity units called nodes arranged in a loosely-coupled multiprocessor network. Internal to the node both spatial parallelism (multiple memories and processors) and temporal parallelism (pipelining) are exploited. The degree to which parallelism is exploited is programmable. This provides flexibility to pursue a variety of parallel programming strategies. At one end of the spectrum the NSC node may be configured as a conventional multiprocessor with each processor working independently. At the other end, the crossbar switch allows arbitrary interconnection of the processors to form complex arithmetic pipelines, equivalent to a reconfigurable systolic array. These two approaches represent the extreme ends of the spectrum, with intermediate strategies possible as well, through the formation of multiple homogeneous of inhomogeneous systolic arrays. With this flexibility, not only can a variety of applications be implemented, but also the multiple forms of parallelism inherent in many applications can be readily addressed.

• Research Organization: Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)
• OSTI ID: 7046526
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
990200* -- Mathematics & Computers
COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE
COMPUTERS
DESIGN
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
DIGITAL COMPUTERS
EQUATIONS
EQUATIONS OF MOTION
FLUID MECHANICS
MECHANICS
NAVIER-STOKES EQUATIONS
PARALLEL PROCESSING
PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
PROGRAMMING
SUPERCOMPUTERS
USES
VECTOR PROCESSING