Numerical calculation of electromagnetic problems on an SCI based PC-cluster

This paper summarizes results obtained using the parallel 3D electromagnetic field simulation program POLOPT on a cluster of PCs connected via an Scalable Coherent Interface (SCI) network interface. Compared to previous measurements carried out with conventional network technologies such as Ethernet or Fast Ethernet, a significant rise in parallel efficiency can be obtained. One of the most critical aspects in the design process of high voltage devices and in electrical engineering in general is the accurate simulation of eddy-current problems in three dimensional domains. In order to calculate such problems the engineer needs a method to solve the Maxwell equations in complex, three-dimensional domains. To deal with such problems, a special solver which was implemented by the Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule Zurich, Switzerland, has been integrated into the parallel simulation software POLOPT being run at ABB Corporate Research Center Heidelberg, Germany. The software has been ported to a LINUX based PC cluster connected via the SCI. This paper gives the first results that were obtained using the parallel 3D electric field simulation program POLOPT on the LINUX cluster for eddy current problems. Due to the high performance of the CPUs and interconnection technology the results obtained on clusters of PCs can be compared to those obtained on expensive multiprocessor machines. A practical high voltage engineering problem has been calculated.