204	1998	Jarmo Rantakokko	jarmo@tdb.uu.se	A Framework for Partitioning Composite Grids

		Abstract

A framework is presented for partitioning of composite grids. It
includes partitioning strategies found in the literature, as well as
new algorithms proposed here. In particular, a multilevel graph
partitioning strategy -- specifically designed for structured
composite grids -- is proposed. Different partitioning strategies are
compared in a number of case studies involving multiblock grids. One of
the applications is a profile of a multi-element wing, Airbus 310. The
partition properties from the different strategies and algorithms
depend very much on the number of subgrids and their sizes as well as
on the number of processors. The previous strategies behave well only
in some cases while the new multilevel graph partitioning strategy
gives an overall good performance.
Finally, a set of software tools is presented, that supports the
framework. The software consists of low-level operations that can 
be combined flexibly to compose a large class of partitioning
algorithms. Some automatic partitioning methods are also provided.