Chemical Mechanism Solvers in Air Quality Models

The solution of chemical kinetics is one of the most computationally intensive tasks in atmospheric chemical transport simulations. Due to the stiff nature of the system, implicit time stepping algorithms which repeatedly solve linear systems of equations are necessary. This paper reviews the issues and challenges associated with the construction of efficient chemical solvers, discusses several families of algorithms, presents strategies for increasing computational efficiency, and gives insight into implementing chemical solvers on accelerated computer architectures.