Creating Interoperable Meshing and Discretization Software: The Terascale Simulation Tools and Technology Center Page: 4 of 12
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components. Approximation techniques used on these meshes include finite
difference, finite volume, finite element, spectral element, and discontinu-
ous Galerkin methods. Any combination of these mesh and approximation
types may be used to solve PDE-based problems. The fundamental con-
cepts are the same for all approaches: some discrete representation of the
geometry (the mesh) is used to approximate the physical domain, and some
discretization procedure is used to represent approximate solutions and dif-
ferential operators on the mesh. In addition, the concepts of adaptive mesh
refinement for local resolution enhancement, time-varying meshes to repre-
sent moving geometry, data transfer between different meshes, and parallel
decomposition of the mesh for computation on advanced computers are the
same regardless of their implementation. In each case, the software tools
providing these advanced capabilities are becoming increasingly accepted
by the scientific community, but their application interfaces are not com-
patible. Thus, interchanging technology is often a labor intensive and error
prone code modification process that must be endured by the application
scientist. This typically results in a lengthy diversion from the central sci-
entific investigation and severely inhibits experimentation with improved
mesh and discretization technologies.
The Terascale Simulation Tools and Technologies (TSTT) center was re-
cently funded by the DOE Scientific Discovery through Advanced Com-
puting (SciDAC) Program [7] to address the technical and human barriers
preventing the effective use of powerful adaptive, composite, and hybrid
methods. The TSTT center brings together expertise from eight institu-
tions in mesh generation, adaptive technologies, high-order discretization
techniques, and terascale computing through projects such as CUBIT [4],
NWGrid [9], Overture [2], and Trellis [1] (see Table 1 for a list of the princi-
pal investigators and their institutions). The pervading theme of the TSTT
center is the development of interoperable and interchangeable meshing and
discretization software. We are formulating a broad, comprehensive design
that encompasses many aspects of the meshing and discretization process,
but we are working toward that goal through incremental insertions of ex-
isting and newly developed technologies into targeted applications. Our
efforts focus on three primary areas: advanced meshing technologies (see
Section 2), high-order discretization techniques (see Section 3), and teras-
cale computing issues such as dynamic load balancing and single processor
performance optimization (not discussed in this paper because of space
constraints).
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Brown, D.; Freitag, L. & Glimm, J. Creating Interoperable Meshing and Discretization Software: The Terascale Simulation Tools and Technology Center, article, March 28, 2002; California. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc740967/m1/4/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.