Parallel three dimensional direct simulation Monte Carlo for simulating micro flows

Abstract

The Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method is widely considered as the most accurate method for dilute gas flow simulation when they violate continuum hypothesis. However the application of DSMC is a computationally intensive method for realistic problems and hence motivates the usage of parallel computers to reduce the computational time. This work discusses the parallelization aspects of the three dimensional DSMC method for micro flow simulations used in computing the flow field in the narrow gap of a slider air bearing. The performance of the parallel DSMC code on several advanced computing platforms illustrating the portability and scalability of the method are compared and discussed. Superlinear speedup, implying a drastic reduction in the computational time has been obtained for all cases on all the parallel computing platforms. Load balancing aspects have also been considered and a dynamic load balancing scheme has also been implemented which results in further computational savings. © 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.