Structured ALE
Structured ALE solver is a newly added ALE solver targeted to solve ALE problems using structured (rectilinear) mesh. It supports SMP, MPP and MPP Hybrid. It runs faster, uses less memory and more stable.
Easier Mesh Generation:
Rectilinear ALE mesh is generated by the *ALE_STRUCTURED_MESH keyword. Mesh nodes and elements are generated at the input phase of the execution. This brings a great reduction in the program I/O and memory needs, especially for large size ALE models.
More Efficient Execution:
Same algorithm with a more efficient coding to gain performance. (29% speedup observed here)
1. Targeted to solve multi-material fluids flowing in a rectilinear mesh.
2. More efficient parallelization with newly added SMP support.
3. A leaner solver much easier to maintain and debug.
Identical (almost) Setup:
Same setup as the generic ALE solver. However, there is a big difference in design to make the setup much easier: In S-ALE, part is either mesh part or material part. IT CAN NOT BE BOTH.
3-step Setup
1. Generating Mesh
a. 3 control_points cards --> mesh spacing in x,y,z direction.
b. 1 ale_structured_mesh card to generate mesh. --> mesh part
2. Defining Multi-materials
a. For each ALE material, define a part card. Each part serves as a wrapper to include *MAT+*EOS+*HOURGLASS. --> material parts
b. List all ALE multi-material part IDs under *ALE_MULTI-MATERIAL_GROUP card.
3. Volume Filling
Use *ALE_STRUCTURED_MESH_VOLUME_FILLING to fill the S-ALE mesh part with multi-materials (fluids). Fill by simple geometries like box, plane, sphere, cylinder or by use-provided segment/part set.
Mesh Part and Material Part(s):
In Structured ALE, a part definition refers to either mesh or material properties. NEVER both.
Mesh part:
Mesh only(elements, nodes); no material associated with it; defined through PID in *ALE_STRUCTURED_MESH. In ALL ALE related keywords, PID should be mesh part ID.
Material parts:
Material properties (*MAT+*EOS+*HG); no mesh at all; defined through *PART. Their IDs are only to appear ONCE in *ALE_MULTI-MATERIAL_GROUP. Any other reference to their PIDs is WRONG.
S-ALE enforces a 1 to 1 correspondence between material parts and ale multi-material groups (ammgs). The material partid should ONLY appear in *ALE_MULTI-MATERIAL_GROUP card and nowhere else.
