Interdisciplinary practical course on parallel finite element method using HiFlow3

Abstract

In many scientific fields one faces partial differential equations that have to be solved numerically. Applying the widely-used finite element method (FEM) leads to huge systems of equations whose solutions often require parallel computing. The practical course presented in this paper aims at introducing the FEM as well as the concept of parallel computing to students with the help of a FEM library, in this case HiFlow3. To achieve this goal, the students work in interdisciplinary groups on explicit problems originating from different scientific fields. In that way they expand and deepen both their theoretical knowledge concerning numerical mathematics and their practical skills in programming and using HiFlow3.