Computational Performance of a Parallelized Three-Dimensional High-Order Spectral Element Toolbox

In this paper, a comprehensive performance review of an MPI-based high-order three-dimensional spectral element method C++ toolbox is presented. The focus is put on the performance evaluation of several aspects with a particular emphasis on the parallel efficiency. The performance evaluation is analyzed with help of a time prediction model based on a parameterization of the application and the hardware resources. A tailor-made CFD computation benchmark case is introduced and used to carry out this review, stressing the particular interest for clusters with up to 8192 cores. Some problems in the parallel implementation have been detected and corrected. The theoretical complexities with respect to the number of elements, to the polynomial degree, and to communication needs are correctly reproduced. It is concluded that this type of code has a nearly perfect speed up on machines with thousands of cores, and is ready to make the step to next-generation petaflop machines.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2009
• Where: APPT
• Authors: Christoph Bosshard, Roland Bouffanais, Christian Clémençon, Michel O. Deville, Nicolas Fiétier, Ralf Gruber, Sohrab Kehtari, Vincent Keller, Jonas Latt
• Keywords: APPT 2009, Comprehensive Performance Review, Distributed And Parallel Programming, Performance Evaluation, Three-dimensional Spectral Element