Once the problem has been defined, how the problem is to be solved needs to be decided. You must decide if the problem will be solved using finite difference or finite element methods. If the problem is to be solved using a finite difference method, the domain must discretized over a grid. If the problem is to be solved using a finite element method, the domain must be discretized using a mesh. //ELLPACK has editors for discretizing a domain in both ways. The grid tool allows you to specify a uniform or non-uniform grid over a domain. The mesh tool allows you to generate a triangular, orthogonal or adaptive mesh over the domain.
One additional thing a user must decide when specifying the solution specification is whether to solve the problem sequentially or in parallel. If the user decides to solve the problem in parallel, he must also decompose the domain into the number of processors he will use to solve the problem. The decomposition tool allows a user to decompose his domain in this manner. It provides several different decomposition algorithms from which to choose.
Click here to get back to the main //ELLPACK main page.