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Finite Element Solution of Thermal Convection On A Hypercube Concurrent Computer

Gurnis, Michael and Raefsky, Arthur and Lyzenga, Gregory A. and Hager, Bradford H. (1988) Finite Element Solution of Thermal Convection On A Hypercube Concurrent Computer. In: Proceedings of the Third Conference on Hypercube Concurrent Computers and Applications. Vol.2. Association for Computing Machinery , New York, NY, pp. 1176-1179. ISBN 9780897912785. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20121119-131724167

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Abstract

Numerical solutions to thermal convection flow problems are vital to many scientific and engineering problems. One fundamental geophysical problem is the thermal convection responsible for continental drift and sea floor spreading. The earth's interior undergoes slow creeping flow (~cm/yr) in response to the buoyancy forces generated by temperature variations caused by the decay of radioactive elements and secular cooling. Convection in the earth's mantle, the 3000 km thick solid layer between the crust and core, is difficult to model for three reasons: (1) Complex rheology -- the effective viscosity depends exponentially on temperature, on pressure (or depth) and on the deviatoric stress; (2) the buoyancy forces driving the flow occur in boundary layers thin in comparison to the total depth; and (3) spherical geometry -- the flow in the interior is fully three dimensional. Because of these many difficulties, accurate and realistic simulations of this process easily overwhelm current computer speed and memory (including the Cray XMP and Cray 2) and only simplified problems have been attempted [e.g. Christensen and Yuen, 1984; Gurnis, 1988; Jarvis and Peltier, 1982]. As a start in overcoming these difficulties, a number of finite element formulations have been explored on hypercube concurrent computers. Although two coupled equations are required to solve this problem (the momentum or Stokes equation and the energy or advection-diffusion equation), we will concentrate our efforts on the solution to the latter equation in this paper. Solution of the former equation is discussed elsewhere [Lyzenga, et al, 1988]. We will demonstrate that linear speedups and efficiencies of 99 percent are achieved for sufficiently large problems.


Item Type:Book Section
Related URLs:
URLURL TypeDescription
http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/63047.63070DOIUNSPECIFIED
http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/63047.63070PublisherUNSPECIFIED
ORCID:
AuthorORCID
Gurnis, Michael0000-0003-1704-597X
Hager, Bradford H.0000-0002-5643-1374
Additional Information:© 1988 ACM. This research is partially supported by DOE grant number DE-FG03-85 ER25009, the Ametek Corporation, and NSF grant number EAR-86-18744. This is contribution number 4600 from the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA. 91125.
Group:Seismological Laboratory
Funders:
Funding AgencyGrant Number
Department of Energy (DOE)DE-FG03-85 ER25009
Ametek CorporationUNSPECIFIED
NSFEAR-86-18744
Subject Keywords:Applied computing; Physical sciences and engineering; Earth and atmospheric sciences; algorithms; theory
Other Numbering System:
Other Numbering System NameOther Numbering System ID
Caltech Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences4600
DOI:10.1145/63047.63070
Record Number:CaltechAUTHORS:20121119-131724167
Persistent URL:https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20121119-131724167
Official Citation:M. Gurnis, A. Raefsky, G. A. Lyzenga, and B. H. Hager. 1989. Finite element solution of thermal convection on a hypercube concurrent computer. In Proceedings of the third conference on Hypercube concurrent computers and applications - Volume 2 (C3P), Geoffrey Fox (Ed.), Vol. 2. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 1176-1179. DOI=10.1145/63047.63070 http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/63047.63070
Usage Policy:No commercial reproduction, distribution, display or performance rights in this work are provided.
ID Code:35546
Collection:CaltechAUTHORS
Deposited By: Tony Diaz
Deposited On:26 Nov 2012 20:54
Last Modified:09 Nov 2021 23:16

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