A Parallel Domain Decomposition Boundary Element Method Technique for Large-Scale Transient Heat Conduction Problems

In this paper, we develop a parallel domain decomposition Laplace transform BEM algorithm for the solution of transient heat conduction problems. The original domain is decomposed into a number of sub-domains, a procedure is described to provide a good initial guess for the domain interface temperatures, and an iteration is carried out to satisfy continuity of temperature and heat flux at the domain interfaces. The decomposition procedure significantly reduces the size of any single problem to be tackled by the BEM, significantly reduces the overall storage and computational burden, and renders the application of the BEM to modeling large transient conduction problem feasible on modest computational platforms. The procedure is readily implemented in parallel and applicable to 3D problems. Moreover, as the approach described herein readily allows adaptation and integration of traditional BEM codes, it is expected that the domain decomposition approach coupled to parallel implementation should prove very competitive to alternatives proposed in the literature such as fast multipole acceleration methods that require a complete re-write of traditional BEM codes.