Communication vs. computation-experiences within a finite element analysis application on transputers

Many parallel numerical algorithms that speed up finite element computations have been developed, particularly for local memory multiprocessors. The overall performance on a multitransputer machine is governed by the efficiency of the communication amongst the processors and the calculation carried out by each processor. Hence in the distributed calculation of the element matrices and the subsequent assembling of the global matrix there are inherent problems associated with the optimisation of the relative times for computation and communication. This paper examines the relative merits of two alternative strategies for the calculation of the element matrices and the assembly of the global matrix. Eight-noded and twenty-noded brick elements have been used for the solution of steady-state potential and plane strain problems in a comparative study