OpenMP performance with an Euler code on an Intel based personal computer

Abstract

Personal computers of the past were limited to running computational fluid dynamics codes in serial mode. With the advent of multicore technology and suitable compilers, personal computers nowadays can execute codes in a parallel fashion similar to that of supercomputers and cluster computer systems. This article investigated what performance can be achieved when executing an aerodynamic code on an Intel quad core based personal computer with an OpenMP compiler in a Windows environment. The code solved the Euler equations to find the flowfield around a NACA0012 aerofoil on an O-type boundary fitted structured grid system. A speedup of up to 350% was obtainable in double precision accuracy. The reduced computation time means that, for small scale problems, more accurate Euler codes can replace commonly used transonic small disturbance codes. For larger problems, this information serves as a reference for developers of hybrid MPI/OpenMP algorithms for cluster computer systems. References

• Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), AMD FireStream 9170: Industry's First GPU with Double-Precision Floating Point, 2007, http://ati.amd.com/products/streamprocessor/specs.html
• Allmaras, S. R., Venkatakrishnan, V., and Johnson, F. T., Farfield Boundary Conditions for 2-D Airfoils, AIAA Paper 2005-4711, AIAA, 2005.
• Bailey, D., Barszcz, E., Barton, J., Browning, D., Carter, R., Dagum, L., Fatoohi, R., Fineberg, S., Frederickson, P., Lasinski, T., Schreiber, R., Simon, H., Venkatakrishnan, V., and Weeratunga, S., The NAS Parallel Benchmarks, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Contractor Report 203186, USA, 1994, http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19970014936_1997021577.pdf
• Dong, S., and Karniadakis, G. E., Dual-Level Parallelism for High-Order CFD Methods, Parallel Computing, 30, Jan. 2004, pp. 1--20.
• Hirsch, C., Numerical Computation of Internal and External Flows (Volume 2): Computational Methods for Inviscid and Viscous Flows, John Wiley and Sons, Great Britain, 1992.
• Hoffmann, K. A., Computational Fluid Dynamics for Engineers, Engineering Educational System, Texas, USA, 1989.
• Intel, Tera-scale Computing Research Program, c.2007, http://www.intel.com/research/platform/terascale/
• Jin, H., Frumkin, M., and Yan, J., The OpenMP Implementation of NAS Parallel Benchmarks and its Performance, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Technical Report NAS-99-011, Moffett Field, USA, 1999.
• Liu, Y., and Vinokur, M., Nonequilibrium Flow Computations 1: An Analysis of Numerical Formulations of Conservation Laws, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Contractor Report 177489, California, USA, 1988, http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19880021000_1988021000.pdf
• Lock, R. C., Test Cases for Numerical Methods in Two-Dimensional Transonic Flows, Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development (AGARD), Report Number 575, 1970.
• Ly, E., Improved Approximate Factorisation Algorithm for the Steady Subsonic and Transonic Flow over an Aircraft Wing, Proceedings of the 21st Congress of the International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences (ICAS98), ICAS and AIAA, Melbourne, Australia, 1998, Paper A98-31699.
• Ly, E., and Gear, J. A., Time-Linearized Transonic Computations Including Shock Wave Motion Effects, Journal of Aircraft, 39, 6, Nov/Dec. 2002, pp. 964--972.
• Ly, E., and Nakamichi, J., Time-Linearised Transonic Computations Including Entropy, Vorticity and Shock Wave Motion Effects, The Aeronautical Journal, Nov. 2003, pp. 687--695.
• Ly, E., and Norrison, D., Automatic Elliptic Grid Generation by an Approximate Factorisation Algorithm, ANZIAM Journal, 48 (CTAC2006), pp. C188--C202, July 2007, http://anziamj.austms.org.au/ojs/index.php/ANZIAMJ/article/view/48.
• Ly, E., and Norrison, D., Generating Elliptic Grids in Three Dimensions by a Method of False Transients, ANZIAM Journal, 49 (EMAC2007), pp. C170--C183, Nov. 2007, http://anziamj.austms.org.au/ojs/index.php/ANZIAMJ/article/view/313.
• Nvidia, The Era of the Personal Supercomputer, 2007, http://www.nvidia.com/content/events/siggraph_2007/supercomputing.html
• Pope, S. B., A Perspective on Turbulence Modeling, Modeling Complex Turbulent Flows, Kluwer Academic Publishers, The Netherlands, 1999.
• Pulliam, T., Kutler, P., and Rossow, V., Harvard Lomax: His Quiet Legacy to Computational Fluid Dynamics, 14th AIAA Computational Fluid Dynamics Conference, Norfolk, VA, 28 June-1 July, 1999, http://people.nas.nasa.gov/ pulliam/mypapers/lomax_la.ps
• Steger, J. L., and Warming, R. F., Flux Vector Splitting of the Inviscid Gasdynamic Equations with Application to Finite Difference Methods, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Technical Memorandum 78605, California, USA, 1979, http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19790020779_1979020779.pdf
• Thompson, J. R., Warsi, Z. U. A., and Mastin, C. W., Numerical Grid Generation: Foundations and Applications, Elsevier Science Publishing Co. Inc., New York, USA, 1985.
• Van Leer, B., Flux-Vector Splitting for the Euler Equations, Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Numerical Methods in Fluid Dynamics, Aachen, West Germany, 1982.