ParCYCLIC: finite element modelling of earthquake liquefaction response on parallel computers

摘要

This paper presents the computational procedures and solution strategy employed in ParCYCLIC, a parallel non-linear finite element program developed based on an existing serial code CYCLIC for the analysis of cyclic seisraically-induced liquefaction problems. In ParCYCLIC, finite elements are employed within an incremental plasticity, coupled solid-fluid formulation. A constitutive model developed for simulating liquefaction-induced deformations is a main component of this analysis framework. The elements of the computational strategy, designed for distributed-memory message-passing parallel computer systems, include: (a) an automatic domain decomposer to partition the finite element mesh; (b) nodal ordering strategies to minimize storage space for the matrix coefficients; (c) an efficient scheme for the allocation of sparse matrix coefficients among the processors; and (d) a parallel sparse direct solver. Application of ParCYCLIC to simulate 3-D geotechnical experimental models is demonstrated. The computational results show excellent parallel performance and scalability of ParCYCLIC on parallel computers with a large number of processors.