A GPU-based parallel procedure for nonlinear analysis of complex structures using a coupled FEM/DEM approach (Q474443)

Summary: This study reports the GPU parallelization of complex three-dimensional software for nonlinear analysis of concrete structures. It focuses on coupled thermomechanical analysis of complex structures. A coupled FEM/DEM approach (CDEM) is given from a fundamental theoretical viewpoint. As the modeling of a large structure by means of FEM/DEM may lead to prohibitive computation times, a parallelization strategy is required. With the substantial development of computer science, a GPU-based parallel procedure is implemented. A comparative study between the GPU and CPU computation results is presented, and the runtimes and speedups are analyzed. The results show that dramatic performance improvements are gained from GPU parallelization.