Dynamic Load Balancing Techniques for Nonlinear Structural Dynamics
Ammar T. Al-Sayegh, Elisa D. Sotelino · Structures Congress 2006 · 2006
DLB can highly improve the parallel solution of nonlinear finite element problems. However, to integrate DLB algorithms into finite element problems, the solution method must be amenable to the DLB integration. In this work, a hybrid solution approach to parallel nonlinear finite element is introduced and evaluated. Results show that the proposed solution algorithm is highly efficient, with superlinear speedups observed in most test cases. However, solution efficiency of a given problem varies according to three main factors: problem complexity, number of processors, and communication cost. Each of these factors is dictated by numerous variables. However, acknowledging these factors paves the way for developing an integrated DLB that minimizes their effects in order to attain even higher speedups and efficiencies. Such system can highly improve the performance of current finite element solvers for nonlinear problems.