Publications

Abstract not provided.

The Finite Element Interface to Linear Solvers (FEI) is a linear system assembly library. Sparse systems of linear equations arise in many computational engineering applications, and the solution of linear systems is often the most computationally intensive portion of the application. Depending on the complexity of problems addressed by the application, there may be no single solver package capable of solving all of the linear systems that arise. This motivates the need to switch an application from one solver library to another, depending on the problem being solved. The interfaces provided by various solver libraries for data assembly and problem solution differ greatly, making it difficult to switch an application code from one library to another. The amount of library-specific code in an application can be greatly reduced by having an abstraction layer that puts a 'common face' on various solver libraries. The FEI has seen significant use by finite element applications at Sandia National Laboratories and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The original FEI offered several advantages over using linear algebra libraries directly, but also imposed significant limitations and disadvantages. A new set of interfaces has been added with the goal of removing the limitations of the original FEI while maintaining and extending its strengths.

Several SIERRA applications make use of third-party libraries to solve systems of linear and nonlinear equations, and to solve eigenproblems. The classes and interfaces in the SIERRA framework that provide linear system assembly services and access to solver libraries are collectively referred to as solver services. This paper provides an overview of SIERRA's solver services including the design goals that drove the development, and relationships and interactions among the various classes. The process of assembling and manipulating linear systems will be described, as well as access to solution methods and other operations.

The Trilinos Project is an effort to facilitate the design, development, integration and ongoing support of mathematical software libraries. In particular, our goal is to develop parallel solver algorithms and libraries within an object-oriented software framework for the solution of large-scale, complex multi-physics engineering and scientific applications. Our emphasis is on developing robust, scalable algorithms in a software framework, using abstract interfaces for flexible interoperability of components while providing a full-featured set of concrete classes that implement all abstract interfaces. Trilinos uses a two-level software structure designed around collections of packages. A Trilinos package is an integral unit usually developed by a small team of experts in a particular algorithms area such as algebraic preconditioners, nonlinear solvers, etc. Packages exist underneath the Trilinos top level, which provides a common look-and-feel, including configuration, documentation, licensing, and bug-tracking. Trilinos packages are primarily written in C++, but provide some C and Fortran user interface support. We provide an open architecture that allows easy integration with other solver packages and we deliver our software to the outside community via the Gnu Lesser General Public License (LGPL). This report provides an overview of Trilinos, discussing the objectives, history, current development and future plans of the project.