An implementation of vortex methods for modeling 2D incompressible flows using the CUDA technology

The possibility of computation speedup in the vortex element method (a meshfree Lagrangian method of computational fluid dynamics) using the graphics accelerators is studied. An algorithm based on the authors' modification of the vortex element method is implemented; this algorithm allows one to perform all the necessary computations directly on a GPU using the CUDA technology. The speed of solving a typical problem on a single GeForce GTX 970 or Tesla C2050 accelerator is comparable with the speed of solving a similar problem on a cluster containing 30-40 cores with the use of the MPI technology. The numerical results obtained confirm a high efficiency of using graphics accelerators when solving the problems of hydrodynamics with vortex methods.