PARVMEC: An Efficient, Scalable Implementation of the Variational Moments Equilibrium Code

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12 Scopus citations

Abstract

The ability to sustain magnetically confined plasma in a state of stable equilibrium is crucial for optimal and cost-effective operations of fusion devices like tokamaks and stellarators. The Variational Moments Equilibrium Code (VMEC) is the de-facto serial application used by fusion scientists to compute magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) equilibria and study the physics of three dimensional plasmas in confined configurations. Modern fusion energy experiments have larger system scales with more interactive experimental workflows, both demanding faster analysis turnaround times on computational workloads that are stressing the capabilities of sequential VMEC. In this paper, we present PARVMEC, an efficient, parallel version of its sequential counterpart, capable of scaling to thousands of processors on distributed memory machines. PARVMEC is a non-linear code, with multiple numerical physics modules, each with its own computational complexity. A detailed speedup analysis supported by scaling results on 1,024 cores of a Cray XC30 supercomputer is presented. Depending on the mode of PARVMEC execution, speedup improvements of one to two orders of magnitude are reported. PARVMEC equips fusion scientists for the first time with a state-of-the-art capability for rapid, high fidelity analyses of magnetically confined plasmas at unprecedented scales.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings - 45th International Conference on Parallel Processing, ICPP 2016
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages618-627
Number of pages10
ISBN (Electronic)9781509028238
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 21 2016
Event45th International Conference on Parallel Processing, ICPP 2016 - Philadelphia, United States
Duration: Aug 16 2016Aug 19 2016

Publication series

NameProceedings of the International Conference on Parallel Processing
Volume2016-September
ISSN (Print)0190-3918

Conference

Conference45th International Conference on Parallel Processing, ICPP 2016
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityPhiladelphia
Period08/16/1608/19/16

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