Sophisticated computer techniques, such as finite element analysis, are particularly well suited for supercomputers. In the automotive industry it is typical to generate large finite element analyses for static and dynamic studies such as in the field of vehicle aerodynamics. High performance computing systems have the speed and capacity to solve these very large-scale finite element analysis problems. The ANSYS finite element analysis program has been available since 1970 on a wide range of computers. Swanson Analysis Systems, Inc, developer of ANSYS, has defined a set of benchmark data consisting of large scale finite element examples to study various high performance computers. This paper presents the results of these studies as run on several high performance computers from CONVEX, CRAY, FPS, HONEYWELL and IBM.
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