Parallel Algorithms for Solving Partial Differential Equations

Authors

Stacy Pschenica, Iowa State University

Document Type

Research

Keywords

Parallel computer systems, wave equation

Abstract

This paper describes the use of a parallel computer system in applying a finite difference method to solve various types of partial differential equations. A sequential implementation of this method was made parallel by essentially spatially decomposing the problem domain into pieces that could be separately analyzed and assigning each piece to a processor in a large, multi-processor system. Although this approach is attractive in theory, it suffers in practice because of inter-processor interactions. Thus, particular emphasis was placed on developing efficient methods for the sharing of information among the processors.

Initially, a simple two-dimensional board game, life, was implemented and used to develop inter-processor communication techniques. These techniques were then applied to parallel solutions of the one-dimensional wave equation and of the two-dimensional Laplace's equation. Different initial conditions were used to illustrate the feasibility of this approach.

Publication Date

June 1994

Journal Title

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science

Volume

101

Issue

2

First Page

70

Last Page

72

Copyright

© Copyright 1994 by the Iowa Academy of Science, Inc.

Language

EN

File Format

application/pdf

Recommended Citation

Pschenica, Stacy (1994) "Parallel Algorithms for Solving Partial Differential Equations," Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS, 101(2), 70-72.
Available at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/jias/vol101/iss2/11