Design of Array Processor Software for Nonlinear Structural Analysis.

This paper presents ongoing research on the solution of large-scale nonlinear structural problems using a 32-bit minicomputer with an attached 64-bit array processor that communicate via a common memory interface. This configuration is typical of what we see as representative of future work stations with attached specialized processors. A user-oriented software package has been designed to allow the use of the given computer configuration by a typical engineer or a scientific user without a detailed knowledge of the operation of the array processor orand the complex data handling necessary to create the manipulate the data associated with the solution of large problems. The software was then used to implement typical building blocks of a nonlinear finite element code, and performance measurements were taken. Several test examples are considered using 3-D beam finite elements and the Newton Raphson solution scheme. The array processor could not be utilized as yet, due to the lack of the proper vendor software. Hence, a simulator was designed to predict the performance of the software. The simulator was based on reliable time measurements obtained from previous work with the same array processor, using a 16-bit host computer, as well as experiments with the current 32-bit host computer. Author