Experiences in Parallelising an Aeronautics Code on the KSR1

Virtual Shared Memory (VSM) has been proposed as the solution to scalable shared memory parallel architectures. This paper reports on parallelising a scientific code from aeronautical engineering to a VSM machine, the KSR1. The code predicts the laminar to turbulent transition point of flow over an aerofoil. The experiences of initial porting and successive optimisation to examine efficiency on a KSR1 is discussed in detail and performance results are presented. Comparisons are made with a traditional shared memory Alliant FX/2808. Performance results indicate the suitability of parallel architectures for this class of application. 1: Introduction Laminar Flow Control (LFC) [1] is steadily becoming accepted as an important industrial tool in increasing the fuel efficiency of aircraft. In January 1993 a major UK aero engine company test flew a nacelle (engine casing) whose shape had been determined by the application of LFC. LFC achieved laminar flow over 60% of the nacelle, giving a..