High performance programming of the 3-D finite element hydrodynamic model - QUODDY

This study revolves around enhancing the predicative ability of the 3-D finite element hydrodynamic ocean circulation model QUODDY by integrating various high performance computing tools. The strategies included converting the existing Fortran 77 code to Fortran 90 code to take advantage of the advanced features in Fortran 90, and developing an efficient parallel code based on the Fortran 90 code using Domain Decomposition techniques. Based on the characteristics of the numerical model, the parallel strategy was applied to the most computationally expensive subroutine VERTICALQ5 using the standard library - MPI (Message Passing Interface). Numerical tests for the original Fortran 77 code, the converted Fortran 90 code, and the parallelized code were conducted on the University of Kentucky HP Superdome cluster. Comparisons were made by testing two realistic simulation cases: Georges Bank and the Chesapeake Bay. Improved performances were obtained from both the Fortran 90 version and the parallel version.