Predictive Load Balancing for Parallel Adaptive Finite Element Computation

This paper provides an overview of data structures suitable for distributed storage of finite element mesh data as well as software designed for mesh adaptation and load balancing. During the course of a parallel computation, processor load imbalances are introduced at adaptive enrichment steps. Two predictive load balancing schemes that use a priori estimates of work load for adaptive refinement and subsequent computation to improve enrichment efficiency and reduce total balancing time are also described. These components have been used to build a system for solving compressible flow problems. Computational results on an IBM SP2 computer are presented for transient solutions of the three-dimensional Euler equations of compressible flow. Keywords: load balancing, parallel adaptive finite element methods 1 Introduction The finite element method (FEM) has become a standard analysis tool for solving partial differential equations (PDEs). Adaptive FEMs have gained importance because they ..