Parallel finite element solver for multi-core computers

The sparse direct parallel finite element solver PARFES, which is based on L·S·L^T factoring of symmetric stiffness matrix, where S is the sign diagonal, is developed for analysis of problems of structural and solid mechanics using multi-core desktop computers. The subdivision of sparse matrix into rectangular blocks and the use of procedures from level 3 BLAS leads to high-performance factorization. Comparisons against multi-frontal solvers and PARDISO from the Intel Math Kernel Library when solving real problems from the SCAD Soft¹ collection demonstrate that PARFES is a good alternative to the multi-frontal method and, unlike PARDISO, allows solving large-scale problems using computers with limited amount of RAM, owing to virtualization.