Massively Parallel Particle Hydrodynamics at Exascale

In this article, we introduce the work of the Massively Parallel Particle Hydrodynamics working group, part of the U.K.’s ExCALIBUR software initiative. The aim of the group is to develop extensible software suitable for simulating complex hydrodynamics problems on exascale computing facilities using a Lagrangian particle-based approach. These methods complement mesh-based approaches, and are particularly suited to problems with a large and fluid dynamic range or that involve free surfaces. The code we are developing uses fine-grained task parallelism to achieve a good load balance, when the workload varies greatly from fluid element to element. We describe how components from astrophysics and engineering are being brought together to further develop this interesting approach, and outline some of the challenges, such as enabling task execution on graphics processing units, that the working group will need to solve in order to extract the full potential of exascale systems.