Dynamic load balancing in flow simulation on workstation clusters

We consider numerical simulation of viscous compressible flow on heterogeneous workstation-clusters operating in a multi-user environment. We apply dynamic domain-balancing techniques in order to obtain an optimal turn-around time for the flow-simulation job only, taking into account the activities on the cluster arising from the other applications. We show that the decision which technique should be used depends on various aspects, such as the character of the load-fluctuations arising from the other applications, and whether the flow-simulation job is computationally intensive. Although it can be concluded that no domain-balancing technique is the best under arbitrary circumstances, the analysis may guide the decision for a particular load-situation. Moreover, we indicate how such a decision can be supported by a comparison of the various balancing strategies using a simulation study. This is illustrated for a specific load-situation.