Massively parallel mesh generation for physics codes

Massively parallel processors (MPPs) will soon enable realistic 3-D physical modeling of complex objects and systems. Work is planned or presently underway to port many of LLNL`s physical modeling codes to MPPs. LLNL`s DSI3D electromagnetics code already can solve 40+ million zone problems on the 256 processor Meiko. However, the author lacks the software necessary to generate and manipulate the large meshes needed to model many complicated 3-D geometries. State-of-the-art commercial mesh generators run on workstations and have a practical limit of several hundred thousand elements. In the foreseeable future MPPs will solve problems with a billion mesh elements. The objective of the Parallel Mesh Generation (PMESH) Project is to develop a unique mesh generation system that can construct large 3-D meshes (up to a billion elements) on MPPs. Such a capability will remove a critical roadblock to unleashing the power of MPPs for physical analysis and will put LLNL at the forefront of mesh generation technology. PMESH will ``front-end`` a variety of LLNL 3-D physics codes, including those in the areas of electromagnetics, structural mechanics, thermal analysis, and hydrodynamics. The DSI3D and DYNA3D codes are already running on MPPs. The primary goal of the PMESH project is to provide the robust generation of large meshes for complicated 3-D geometries through the appropriate distribution of the generation task between the user`s workstation and the MPP. Secondary goals are to support the unique features of LLNL physics codes (e.g., unusual elements) and to minimize the user effort required to generate different meshes for the same geometry. PMESH`s capabilities are essential because mesh generation is presently a major limiting factor in simulating larger and more complex 3-D geometries. PMESH will significantly enhance LLNL`s capabilities in physical simulation by advancing the state-of-the-art in large mesh generation by 2 to 3 orders of magnitude