A distributed environment for run-time visualization and application steering in computational mechanics

The VASE software system for run-time visualization and interactive steering of high-performance computing applications is described. The system allows a user to specify interactively during the execution of a large-scale application which data structures are to be visualized and the format of the visualization. Tools are provided to develop and execute network-distributed applications that might involve remote supercomputers, graphics workstations and mass storage facilities. In addition to visualization functions, VASE supports interactive steering of large-scale computing applications. A debugger-like command interpreter allows the user to specify and execute steering operations during program execution. Steering can be used to adjust solution parameters, redefine problem data, control optimization procedures, etc. A distributed supercomputing application based on VASE for shape optimization of structures over variable topologies is presented.