Plug and Play Approach to Validation of Particle-Based Algorithms

Abstract

We present a new approach for code validation. The approach is based on using particle-based algorithms to simulate different levels of physical complexity. We consider here heat and mass transfer in a multicomponent plasma at the kinetic and fluid level. By representing both levels using particle methods we can design a component based software package, Parsek, to conduct validation using a plug and play approach. With the plug and play paradigm, different components representing different physical descriptions but all based on a common particle algorithm can be interchanged without altering the overall software architecture and the overall algorithm. The advantage of the plug and play approach is that validation can be conducted for each component and switching between physical descriptions requires the validation of just the affected components, not entire codes.