Data structures for the distributed iterative solution of non-conventional finite element models

A class of specialised data structures designed for the distributed solution of non-conventional finite element formulations, which are equally effective when used in conjunction with conventional formulations, is presented. We begin by briefly discussing how the non-conventional finite element formulations being developed within the structural analysis group at IST [Freitas JAT, Almeida JPM, Pereira EMBR. Non-conventional formulations for the finite element method. Comput Mech 1999;23(5–6):488–501] lead to systems of equations that appear to be naturally suited for parallel processing, but we also recognise that to take full advantage of the characteristics of these systems – large dimension, non-overlapping block structure and sparsity – it is necessary to use appropriate data structures. The approach presented, which references the logical subdivisions of the system matrices, was designed to fulfil these objectives. Examples of parallel performance and efficiency on an homogeneous distributed platform are presented.