Parallel solution technology is implemented as an option in the process settings for Cool (FEM) analyses to improve solution speed, especially for large models.
The parallel solution method is supported for shared memory multi-processor (SMP) systems, also known as multiple core systems. In SMP systems, all physical processors (cores) are in the same computer and access the full system memory, so data sharing is fast.
Note: Distributed memory clusters are not supported.
There are 4 options:
- Automatic
- By default, the software automatically determines the most efficient number of threads to use based on CPU usage. This method takes advantage of available processing resources without overloading the machine. However, it may not always result in the fastest analysis due to a small overhead in reading the CPU usage, which may contribute to the overall solution time.
- Single Thread (no parallelization)
- This means the parallel solution will not be used.
- Maximum
- The analysis will be run using the maximum number of physical processors available for parallelization. This includes multiple cores, but does not include additional logical processors made available by enabling hyperthreading.
Note: The maximum number of threads used in the calculation is included in the Analysis log.
- Specified number of threads
- You can specify the number of threads you want to be used for parallelization.
Note: If the specified number of threads exceeds the number of physical processors (cores) available, the solver will default to using the maximum numbers of physical processors available.
If you have hyperthreading enabled, then the number of processors available will appear to be twice the number of physical processors. However, this does not result in the most efficient parallel execution. For best results, the number of threads specified for parallelization should not exceed the number of physical processors available on the system.
Note: For parallel analysis, the AMG matrix solver will always be used. The option to disable the AMG solver is only available for single-threaded analysis.