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An Object-Oriented Toolbox for Spectral Element Analysis

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Abstract

A common bottleneck for numericists is the complexity of the implementation programs. The usual procedural programming approach demands time and effort to program, develop, and test new formulations. This article addresses a particularly involved subject area, that of spectral element methods with mortars for large-scale applications. It is shown that the implementation burden can be alleviated by resorting to an object-oriented design approach. A toolbox consisting of a set of object-oriented classes is discussed. In order to solve a particular problem at hand, the user proceeds by creating an application where he/she loosely activates objects of the classes. When an operation exceeds the functionalities of the classes, the user can enrich these classes or create new ones. Practical examples are provided. Issues concerning computational efficiency and concurrent execution are addressed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Fluid Mechanics, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Yves Dubois-Pelerin & Michel Deville

  2. C&C Research Laboratories, NEC Europe Ltd., Rathausallec, 10, 53757, Sankt Augustin, Germany

    Vincent van Kemenade

Authors
  1. Yves Dubois-Pelerin
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  2. Vincent van Kemenade
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  3. Michel Deville
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Dubois-Pelerin, Y., van Kemenade, V. & Deville, M. An Object-Oriented Toolbox for Spectral Element Analysis. Journal of Scientific Computing 14, 1–29 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025677921253

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