high performance computing on graphics processing units: hgpu.org

We present results of numerical simulations of acoustic waves with the use of the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) acceleration GAMER code which implements a second-order Godunov-type numerical scheme and adaptive mesh refinement (AMR). The AMR implementation is based on constructing a hierarchy of grid patches with an octree data structure. In this code a hybrid model is adopted, in which the time-consuming solvers are dealt with GPUs and the complex AMR data structure is manipulated by Central Processing Units (CPUs). The code is highly parallelized with the Hilbert space-filling curve method. These implementations allow us to resolve well desperate spatial scales that are associated with acoustic waves. We show that a localized velocity (gas pressure) pulse that is initially launched within a uniform and still medium triggers acoustic waves simultaneously with a vortex (an entropy mode). In a flowing medium, acoustic waves experience amplitude growth or decay, a scenario which depends on a location of the flow and relative direction of wave propagation. The amplitude growth results from instabilities which are associated with negative energy waves.