High Performance Algorithms for Structural Analysis of Grid Stiffened Panels

In this research, we apply modern high performance computing techniques to solve an engineering problem, structural analysis of grid stiffened panels. An existing engineering code, SPANDO, is studied and modified to execute more efficiently on high performance workstations and parallel computers. Two new SPANDO packages, a modified sequential SPANDO and parallel SPANDO, are developed. In developing the new sequential SPANDO, we use two existing high performance numerical packages: LAPACK and ARPACK to solve our linear algebra problems. Also, a new block-oriented algorithm for computing the matrix-vector multiplication w=A⁻¹Bx is developed. The experimental results show that the new sequential SPANDO can save over 70% of memory size, and is at least 10 times faster than the original SPANDO. In parallel SPANDO, ScaLAPACK and BLACS are used. There are many factors that may affect the performance of parallel SPANDO. The parallel performance and the affects of these factors are discussed in this thesis.