Nonlinear dynamic finite element analysis on parallel computers using FORTRAN 90 and MPI

A nonlinear explicit dynamic finite element code for use on scalable computers is presented. The code was written entirely in FORTRAN 90, but uses MPI for all interprocessor communication. Although MPI is not formally a standard for FORTRAN 90, the code runs properly in parallel on CRAY T3E, IBM SP, and SGI ORIGIN 2000 computing systems. Issues regarding the installation, portability, and effectiveness of the FORTRAN 90-MPI combination on these machines are discussed. An algorithm that overlaps message passing and computations of the explicit finite element equations is also presented and evaluated. Several large-scale ground-shock analyses demonstrate the varying combined importance of load balance and interprocessor communication among the different computing platforms. The analyses were performed on only a few to hundreds of processors with excellent speedup and scalability.