Parallel finite element analysis of seismic soil structure interaction using a PC cluster

This paper describes an implementation of a highly scalable parallel computational facility with high speedup efficiency using relatively low-cost hardware, which consists of a cluster of desktop personal computers (PCs) connected via a 10-Gigabit Ethernet. Two-levels of parallelization were implemented. Communication between different PCs was achieved using message passing interface (MPI) protocol. Domain decomposition was automated and based on element numbering. Domain continuity was assured largely by re-numbering the elements using a “front squasher” code prior to decomposition. Within each PC, the shared memory parallelization was implemented using either the open-multiprocessing (OpenMP) or the MPI protocol. Analysis of three different problems with number of degrees-of-freedom ranging from about 129,000 to about 2,260,000 shows a speedup efficiency generally above 70%. Super-linear speedup was achieved in several of the cases examined in this study, with the hybrid MPI-OpenMP approach generally performing better compared to the pure MPI method for parallelization. The results demonstrate the feasibility of acquiring a parallel computing facility with relatively modest outlay that is within the reach of consulting or engineering offices.