Partitioning and dynamic load balancing of adaptive hybrid grids for large-scale turbulent flow simulations

A new partitioning method for complex 3-D hybrid prismatic/tetrahedral meshes is presented. The method uses an orthogonal recursive bisection approach on a special octree corresponding to the hybrid grid. The octree is generated automatically and handles any type of 3-D geometry and domain connectivity. It is employed for partitioning of static, as well as dynamic adaptive meshes. The method yields similar quality partitions for very divergent geometries, such as a sphere and an aircraft configuration. The strategy for load balancing is applied to octants which leads to an efficient parallel algorithm. Results include partitioning a hybrid grid around an aircraft configuration and octree-based load balancing for a dynamically adapted mesh. The method is applied to large-scale turbulent flow simulations around aircraft configurations.