Executing and observing CFD applications on the Grid

We present the FlowGrid system, that allows Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations to be executed in Grid environments. Using this system, users can observe online the progress of their simulation by looking at intermediate results, that are visualized in the graphical user interface. Several Grid centers across Europe currently use and validate the system with their CFD computations and build a ‘CFD Virtual Organization’ to share their resources and balance their processing load. We first describe the overall FlowGrid architecture, highlight its special features and present the system along a typical job execution. The Grid infrastructure, i.e. FlowServe, is presented in detail, a description of the accounting system is given and experiences with the FlowGrid testbed are provided. Finally, we provide evidence that the results can be used as a generic CFD Grid service. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.