Computations of Pulsatile Aortic Blood Flow Problems on Parallel Computers

Abstract

In this study, a parallel computing technology is applied on the simulation of aortic blood flow problems. A third-order upwind flux extrapolation with a dual-time integration method based on artificial compressibility solver is used to solve the Navier-Stokes equations. The original FORTRAN code is converted to the MPI code and tested on a 64-CPU IBM SP2 parallel computer and a 32-node PC Cluster. The test results show that a significant reduction of computing time in running the model and a super-linear speed up rate is achieved up to 32 CPUs at PC cluster. The speed up rate is as high as 49 for using IBM SP2 64 processors. The test shows very promising potential of parallel processing to provide prompt simulation of the current aortic flow problems.