Implementing a Preconditioned Iterative Linear Solver Using Massively Parallel Graphics Processing Units

The research conducted in this thesis provides a robust implementation of a preconditioned iterative linear solver on programmable graphic processing units (GPUs). Solving a large, sparse linear system is the most computationally demanding part of many widely used power system analysis. This thesis...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Asgari Kamiabad, Amirhassan
Other Authors: Tate, Zeb
Language:en_ca
Published: 2011
Subjects:
GPU
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1807/27321
Description
Summary:The research conducted in this thesis provides a robust implementation of a preconditioned iterative linear solver on programmable graphic processing units (GPUs). Solving a large, sparse linear system is the most computationally demanding part of many widely used power system analysis. This thesis presents a detailed study of iterative linear solvers with a focus on Krylov-based methods. Since the ill-conditioned nature of power system matrices typically requires substantial preconditioning to ensure robustness of Krylov-based methods, a polynomial preconditioning technique is also studied in this thesis. Implementation of the Chebyshev polynomial preconditioner and biconjugate gradient solver on a programmable GPU are presented and discussed in detail. Evaluation of the performance of the GPU-based preconditioner and linear solver on a variety of sparse matrices shows significant computational savings relative to a CPU-based implementation of the same preconditioner and commonly used direct methods.