DAP Phoenics: Porting a CFD code to a SIMD computer

摘要

A port of the Phoenics CFD package to a massively parallel SIMD computer, the DAP, is described. The general principles under which the port was performed are discussed. These principles aim for balance between performance, ease of use and maintainability. Usability and maintainability considerations result in the desire to minimise the user visible changes. The parallel data structures to achieve this aim are discussed. However, in some cases — such as the Linear Equation Solver — the performance is most important and new algorithms need to be developed with the potential of changing the way the user perceives Phoenics. The characteristics of the performance of Phoenics on the DAP are analysed and the extent to which the primary porting goals have been met is reviewed.