Parallel mesh generation: Difference between revisions

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The challenges in parallel mesh generation methods are: to maintain stability of the parallel mesher (i.e., retain the quality of finite elements generated by state-of-the-art sequential codes) and at the same time achieve 100% code re-use (i.e., leverage the continuously evolving and fully functional off-the-shelf sequential meshers) without substantial deterioration of the scalability of the parallel mesher.

There is a difference between parallel mesh generation and parallel triangulation. In parallel triangulation a pre-defined set of points is used to generate in parallel triangles that cover the [[convex hull]] of the set of points. A very efficient algorithm for parallel [[Delaunay triangulation]]s appears in Blelloch et al.<ref>G. E. Blelloch, J.C. Hardwick, G.~L. Miller, and D. Talmor, Design and implementation of a practical parallel Delaunay algorithm, Algorithmica, 24 (1999), pp. 243--269.</ref> This algorithm is extended in Clemens and Walkington<ref>Clemens Kadow and Noel Walkington. Design of a projection-based parallel Delaunay mesh generation and refinement algorithm. In proceedings of Fourth Symposium on Trends in Unstructured Mesh Generation, 2003.</ref> for parallel mesh generation.

==Parallel mesh generation software==

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A parallel version of the MeshSim mesh generator by Simmetrix Inc.,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.simmetrix.com/products/SimulationModelingSuite/ParallelMeshSim/ParallelMeshSim.html |title=Parallel MeshSim |access-date=2009-08-05 |archive-date=2009-02-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090218151631/http://simmetrix.com/products/SimulationModelingSuite/ParallelMeshSim/ParallelMeshSim.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> is available for both research and commercial use. It includes parallel implementations of surface, volume and [[boundary layer]] mesh generation as well as parallel mesh adaptivity. The algorithms it uses are based on those in reference <ref name="ReferenceA"/> and are scalable (both in the parallel sense and in the sense that they give speedup compared to the serial implementation) and stable. For multicore or multiprocessor systems, there is also a multithreaded version of these algorithms that are available in the base MeshSim product <ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.simmetrix.com/products/SimulationModelingSuite/MeshSim/MeshSim.html |title=MeshSim |access-date=2009-08-05 |archive-date=2009-09-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090927170512/http://www.simmetrix.com/products/SimulationModelingSuite/MeshSim/MeshSim.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Another parallel mesh generator is '''D3D''',<ref>[http://mech.fsv.cvut.cz/~dr/d3d.html D3D Mesh Generator Web page]</ref> was developed by Daniel Rypl<ref>University Web page of Daniel Rypl, http://mech.fsv.cvut.cz/~dr/</ref> at [[Czech Technical University in Prague]]. '''D3D''' is a mesh generator capable to discretize in parallel (or sequentially) 3D domains into mixed meshes.

BOXERMesh <ref>[http://www.cambridgeflowsolutions.com/en/products/boxer-mesh.html BOXERMesh]</ref> is an unstructured hybrid mesh generator <ref>[http://www.cambridgeflowsolutions.com/uploads/2009_Scalable%20parallel%20mesh%20generation_AIAA_0981.pdf Scalable Parallel Mesh Generation]</ref> developed by Cambridge Flow Solutions.<ref>[http://www.cambridgeflowsolutions.com Cambridge Flow Solutions]</ref> Implemented as distributed-memory fully parallelised software, it is specifically designed to overcome the traditional bottlenecks constraining engineering simulation, delivering advanced meshing on geometries of arbitrary complexity and size. Its scalability has been demonstrated on very large meshes generated on HPC clusters.

== Challenges in parallel mesh generation ==

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ended which makes the task of creating leading edge parallel mesh generation codes challenging.

An area with immediate high benefits to parallel mesh generation is ___domain decomposition. The DD problem as it is posed in <ref>Chrisochoides N., ''A Survey of Parallel Mesh Generation Methods'', Brown University, Providence RI - 2005.</ref> is still open for 3D geometries and its solution will help to deliver stable and scalable methods that rely on off-the-shelf mesh generation codes for Delaunay and Advancing Front Techniques.

Finally, a long term investment to parallel mesh generation is to attract the attention of mathematicians with open problems in mesh generation and broader impact in mathematics.