We describe an architecture-adaptable methodology for the parallel implementation of finite element numerical models of physical systems. We use a model of time-dependent ocean currents as our working example. The heart of the computation is the solution of a banded linear system, and we describe an algorithm based on the domain decomposition method to solve the banded system. The well-defined algebraic structure of this framework makes it relatively easy to predict the performance of the algorithm with high accuracy.
Performance prediction makes possible architecture adaptability.
In the case of the domain decomposition method described in this paper, performance prediction enables us to make decisions about granularity and the number of processors to use for individual steps of the algorithm. The process is straightforward and amenable to automation. Our results show very good speedup on both platforms.