An automatic design optimization tool and its application to computational fluid dynamics

ABSTRACT

In this paper we describe the Nimrod/O design optimization tool, and its application in computational fluid dynamics. Nimrod/O facilitates the use of an arbitrary computational model to drive an automatic optimization process. This means that the user can parameterise an arbitrary problem, and then ask the tool to compute the parameter values that minimize or maximise a design objective function. The paper describes the Nimrod/O system, and then discusses a case study in the evaluation of an aerofoil problem. The problem involves computing the shape and angle of attack of the aerofoil that maximises the lift to drag ratio. The results show that our general approach is extremely flexible and delivers better results than a program that was developed specifically for the problem. Moreover, it only took us a few hours to set up the tool for the new problem and required no software development.

REFERENCES

• 1: D. Abramson , R. Sosic , J. Giddy , B. Hall, Nimrod: a tool for performing parametrised simulations using distributed workstations, Proceedings of the Fourth IEEE International Symposium on High Performance Distributed Computing - HPDC '95, p.112, August 02-04, 1995
• 2: David Abramson, Parametric Modelling: Killer Apps for Linux Clusters, Linux Journal, v.2000 n.73es, May 2000
• 3: Lewis, A., Abramson D., Sosic R., Giddy J., "Tool-based Parameterisation: An Application Perspective", Computational Techniques and Applications Conference, Melbourne, July 1995.
• 4: Ian Foster , Carl Kesselman, The grid: blueprint for a new computing infrastructure, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers Inc., San Francisco, CA, 1998
• 5: Eldred, M., Outka, D., Fulcher, C. and Bohnhoff, W. "Optimization of complex mechanics simulations with object-oriented software design.", Proceedings of the 36th IAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conference, pp 2406-2415, New Orleans, LA, April 1995
• 6: Czyzyk, J, Owen, J. and Wright, S. "Optimization on the Internet", OR/MS Today, October 1997.
• 7: Casanova, H. and Dongarra, J. "NetSolve: A Network Server for Solving Computational Science Problems", The International Journal of Supercomputing Applications and High Performance Computing, Vol 11, Number 3, pp 212-223, 1997.
• 8: Steven G. Parker , Christopher R. Johnson, SCIRun: a scientific programming environment for computational steering, Proceedings of the 1995 ACM/IEEE conference on Supercomputing (CDROM), p.52-es, December 04-08, 1995, San Diego, California, United States [doi>10.1145/224170.224354]
• 9: McCorquodale, J., Parker, S., Davison de St. Germain, J. and Johnson, C., "The Utah Parallelism Infrastructure: A Performance Evaluation", 2001 High Performance Computing Symposium (HPC'01), Advanced Simulation Technologies Conference, April 22-26, 2001, Seattle, Washington (USA).
• 10: Hamdy A. Taha, Operations research: an introduction, 4th ed., Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., Indianapolis, IN, 1987
• 11: William H. Press , Brian P. Flannery , Saul A. Teukolsky , William T. Vetterling, Numerical recipes: the art of scientific computing, Cambridge University Press, New York, NY, 1986
• 12: Gill, P.E., Murray, W. and Wright. M, "Practical Optimization". Academic Press, London, 1981.
• 13: Abramson, D, Lewis, A. and Peachy, T., "Nimrod/O: A Tool for Automatic Design Optimization", The 4th International Conference on Algorithms & Architectures for Parallel Processing (ICA3PP 2000), Hong Kong, 11-13 December 2000.
• 14: Abramson, D, Lewis, A. and Peachy, T. "Case Studies in Automatic Design Optimisation using the P-BFGS Algorithm", 2001 High Performance Computing Symposium (HPC'01), Advanced Simulation Technologies Conference, April 22-26, 2001, pp 104-109, Seattle, Washington (USA).
• 15: Andrew S. Grimshaw , Wm. A. Wulf , CORPORATE The Legion Team, The Legion vision of a worldwide virtual computer, Communications of the ACM, v.40 n.1, p.39-45, Jan. 1997 [doi>10.1145/242857.242867]
• 16: Foster, I., Kesselman, C., Globus: A Metacomputing Infrastructure Toolkit, International Journal of Supercomputer Applications, 11(2):115-128, 1997.
• 17: Litzkow, M., Livny, M. and Mutka, M.W., "Condor --- A Hunter of Idle Workstations", proceedings of the 8th International Conference of Distributed Computing Systems, pp 104-111, June 1988.
• 18: High Performance Parametric Modeling with Nimrod/G: Killer Application for the Global Grid?, Proceedings of the 14th International Symposium on Parallel and Distributed Processing, p.520, May 01-05, 2000
• 19: http://www.fluent.com/
• 20: Nelder, J.A., and Mead, R.,"A simplex method for function minimization", Comput. J., 7, pp. 308-313, 1965.
• 21: R. Fletcher, Practical methods of optimization; (2nd ed.), Wiley-Interscience, New York, NY, 1987
• 22: http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~davida/nimrodo/aerofoil.mpg
• 23: P. J. M. Laarhoven , E. H. L. Aarts, Simulated annealing: theory and applications, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Norwell, MA, 1987
• 24: Poloni, G and Pediroda, V. "GA Coupled with Computationally Expensive Simulations: Tools to Improve Efficiency", Chapter 13, in "Genetic Algortihms and Evolution Strategy in Engineering and Computer Science", Edited by Quagliarella, Periaux, Poloni and Winter, John Wiley & Sons, 1998, ISBN 0 471 97710 1.
• 25: http://www.lmsintl.com/
• 26: P. J. M. Laarhoven , E. H. L. Aarts, Simulated annealing: theory and applications, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Norwell, MA, 1987
• 27: Spendley, W, Hext, G. R. and Himsworth, F. R. "Sequential applications of simplex designs in optimization and evolutionary operation", Technometrics, 4, pp 441-461, 1962.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.4 PERFORMANCE OF SYSTEMS
      Subjects: Performance attributes

Additional Classification:
  G. Mathematics of Computing
  G.1 NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
      G.1.6 Optimization

  J. Computer Applications
  J.2 PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING
      Subjects: Physics

General Terms:
Algorithms, Design, Performance