A multi-platform linear algebra toolbox for finite element solvers on heterogeneous clusters

Heterogeneous clusters with multiple sockets and multicore-processors accelerated by dedicated coprocessors like GPUs, Cell BE, FPGAs or others nowadays provide unrivaled computing power in terms of floating point operations. Specific capabilities of additional processor technologies enable dedicated exploitation with respect to particular application and data characteristics. However, resource utilization, programmability, and scalability of applications across heterogeneous platforms is a major concern. In the framework of the HiFlow finite element software package we have developed a portable software approach that implements efficient parallel solvers for partial differential equations by means of unified and modular user interfaces across a variety of heterogeneous platforms - in particular on GPU accelerated clusters. We detail our concept and provide performance analysis for various test scenarios that prove performance capabilities, scalability, viability, and user friendliness.