Doctoral thesis

Geometry–aware finite element framework for multi–physics simulations : an algorithmic and software-centric perspective

    27.06.2017

127 p

Thèse de doctorat: Università della Svizzera italiana, 2017

English In finite element simulations, the handling of geometrical objects and their discrete representation is a critical aspect in both serial and parallel scientific software environments. The development of codes targeting such envinronments is subject to great development effort and man-hours invested. In this thesis we approach these issues from three fronts. First, stable and efficient techniques for the transfer of discrete fields between non matching volume or surface meshes are an essential ingredient for the discretization and numerical solution of coupled multi-physics and multi-scale problems. In particular L2-projections allows for the transfer of discrete fields between unstructured meshes, both in the volume and on the surface. We present an algorithm for parallelizing the assembly of the L2-transfer operator for unstructured meshes which are arbitrarily distributed among different processes. The algorithm requires no a priori information on the geometrical relationship between the different meshes. Second, the geometric representation is often a limiting factor which imposes a trade-off between how accurately the shape is described, and what methods can be employed for solving a system of differential equations. Parametric finite-elements and bijective mappings between polygons or polyhedra allow us to flexibly construct finite element discretizations with arbitrary resolutions without sacrificing the accuracy of the shape description. Such flexibility allows employing state-of-the-art techniques, such as geometric multigrid methods, on meshes with almost any shape.t, the way numerical techniques are represented in software libraries and approached from a development perspective, affect both usability and maintainability of such libraries. Completely separating the intent of high-level routines from the actual implementation and technologies allows for portable and maintainable performance. We provide an overview on current trends in the development of scientific software and showcase our open-source library utopia.
Language
  • English
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Computer science and technology
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https://n2t.net/ark:/12658/srd1318610
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