A New Paradigm for Parallel Adaptive Meshing Algorithms

Abstract

We present a new approach to the use of parallel computers with adaptive finite element methods. This approach addresses the load balancing problem in a new way, requiring far less communication than current approaches. It also allows existing sequential adaptive PDE codes such as PLTMG and MC to run in a parallel environment without a large investment in recoding. In this new approach, the load balancing problem is reduced to the numerical solution of a small elliptic problem on a single processor, using a sequential adaptive solver, without requiring any modifications to the sequential solver. The small elliptic problem is used to produce a posteriori error estimates to predict future element densities in the mesh, which are then used in a weighted recursive spectral bisection of the initial mesh. The bulk of the calculation then takes place independently on each processor, with no communication, using possibly the same sequential adaptive solver. Each processor adapts its region of the mesh independent...