A Computational Fluid Dynamics Algorithm On a Massively Parallel Computer

Abstract

The discipline of computational fluid dynamics is de manding ever-increasing computational power to deal with complex fluid flow problems. We investigate the performance of a finite-difference computational fluid dynamics algorithm on a massively parallel computer, the Connection Machine. Of special interest is an implicit time-stepping algorithm; to obtain maximum perfor mance from the Connection Machine, it is necessary to use a nonstandard algorithm to solve the linear systems that arise in the implicit algorithm. We find that the Connection Machine can achieve very high computation rates on both explicit and implicit algorithms. The per formance of the Connection Machine puts it in the same class as today's most powerful conventional supercomputers.