[FLASH-USERS] FLASH4-beta released

[Seyit Hocuk]

Hi Klaus,

For the people who were using FLASH4-alpha and are now switching to 
beta, is there anything special that we need to consider. Or, can we 
just copy our simulation directory and continue using FLASH4-beta. For 
example: switching from FLASH3.3 to FLASH4-a, you needed to change every 
myPE to meshME, or something like that.

Thinghs that you commonly might have in your simulation dir. are:

Config
flash.par
Makefile
pt_initPositions.F90
Simulation_initBlock.F90
Simulation_init.F90
Simulation_data.F90
Simulation_initSpecies.F90
SpeciesList.txt
Grid_markRefineDerefine.F90
Driver_sourceTerms.F90
Driver_initSourceTerms.F90

where the latter two are for added sourceterm modules like:

Cool
Heat
Sinkparticles
etc.


kind regards,
Seyit




On 02/01/2012 08:33 PM, Klaus Weide wrote:
> The Flash Center is pleased to announce the beta release of the next
> version of the FLASH code, version 4 beta. FLASH 4 beta includes
> several new capabilities and resolves many bugs found in
> previous releases up to 4-alpha.
>
>
> The capabilities added since the alpha release are :
>
> Capabilities added since the FLASH4-alpha include:
>
> * 3T capabilities, support for non-Cartesian geometry, and support for
> stationary rigid bodies in the unsplit hydrodynamics solver
>
> * Upwind biased constrained transport (CT) scheme in the unsplit staggered mesh MHD solver
>
> * Full corner transport upwind (CTU) algorithm in the unsplit hydro/MHD solver
>
> * Multi-Temperature Multi-Material Multi-Table Eos
>
> * Ability to use cold opacities
>
> * Several solvers have been threaded with two different degrees of parallelism. The
>    block level threading  is coarser grained with one FLASH block being given to one
>    thread, there is a finer grain threading which threads performance critical loops.
>    Both modes use OpenMP.
>
> * Laser drive is reconfigured and threaded.
>
> * Several new HEDP simulation setups have been added.
>
>
> Improvements to capabilities since the alpha release include:
>
> * The HEDP capabilities have been more extensively tested, and are therefore more robust.
>
> * Eos related runtime parameters are clearer.
>
> * Several new shortcuts have been added to make it easier to use the
>    new HEDP capabilities.
>
> * The use of Gravitational acceleration is handled more accurately in Hydrodynamics.
>
> * The interface with Hypre is more robust for diffusion.
>
> * More boundary conditions in PFFT, some Poisson solvers can now handle
>    combinations of different boundary conditions (DIRICHLET, NEUMANN, PERIODIC)
>    on different domian boundaries.
>
>
> Known Limitations:
>
> * The new multipole solver is missing the ability to treat
>    a non-zero minimal radius for spherical geometries, and the
>    ability to specify a point mass contribution to the potential.
>
> * Unsplit diffusion does not work in 3D.
>
> * HYPRE needs to be installed to use Unsplit Diffusion, Unsplit diffusion
>    uses hypre-2.7.0b (might not be backward compatible).
>
> * Usage of HYPRE Split solver in FLASH4 is only for internal debugging purposes
>    and is not generally recommended for usage.
>
> * Split diffusion has not been tested with PARAMESH.
>
> * Some configurations of hydrodynamic test problems with Chombo grid
>    show worse than expected mass and total energy conservation.  Please
>    see the Chombo section in Hydro chapter of the FLASH user guide for
>    details.
>
> * We have experienced the following abort when running
>    IsentropicVortex problem with Chombo Grid:
>    "MayDay: TreeIntVectSet.cpp:1995: Assertion `bxNumPts != 0' failed. !!!"
>    We are currently in contact with the Chombo team to resolve this
>    issue.
>
> * The absoft compiler produces erroneous results with optimization in
>    gr_markRefineDerefine routine. The results are fine without
>    optimization. There may be other files with similar behavior, but
>    this is the only one we are aware of.
>
> * The PG compiler fails to compile source files which contain OpenMP
>    parallel regions that reference threadprivate data.  This happens in
>    the threaded versions of the Multipole solver and the within block
>    threaded version of split hydro.  A workaround is to remove
>    "default(none)" from the OpenMP parallel region.
>
> * The unsplit hydro solver has an issue with preserving symmetry in
>    non-fixed block size mode in UG.
>
> * The ReineckeMeyer setup will not compile with the NAG compiler because
>    of the presence of f77 like file used computing analytical solution
>
> * We have been unable to use Hyper with OpenMPI in the FLASH code, the
>    runs result in execution failures.
>
> * The -index-reorder setup flag does not work in all the configurations.
>    If you wish to use it please contact the FLASH team.
>
> * A longer list of changes is contained in the User's Guide in Section 1,
>   What's New in This Release.
>
> The release is available at:
>
> http://flash.uchicago.edu/site/flashcode/
>
> A stripped down version of FLASH3 that may be downloaded without a
> license is also available at the same site.  This is essentially the
> FLASH framework without any implementations. Additionally a collection
> of mini-apps that represent the FLASH workload in many different
> configurations is also availble under the general FLASH license
> agreement.
>
>
> The Flash Center continues to provide support for "add-ons" to the
> code.
>
> Additionally, the FLASH testing software FlashTest, which became
> available with the FLASH3, continues to be available for
> download at:
>
> http://flash.uchicago.edu/site/flashcode/
>
> The code architecture and most interfaces of FLASH4 are compatible
> with FLASH3.  Many, but not all parts are also backward compatible
> with FLASH2.  The Flash Center has written extensive documentation
> detailing how to make the transition from FLASH2 to FLASH3 as smooth
> as possible.  The user should look to:
>
> http://flash.uchicago.edu/site/flashcode/user_support/
>
> The website also contains other documentation including a User's Guide
> and a developer's section.  A new feature from FLASH3 onward is the
> online description of the public interface routines to various code
> units. A new feature from the current release is a list of available
> setup shortcuts.
>
>
> Development of the FLASH Code was funded by the DOE-supported
> ASC/Alliance Center for Astrophysical Thermonuclear Flashes,
> and continues to be funded by DOE NNSA and NSF.  We
> acknowledge support received from Lawrence Livermore National
> Laboratory and the University of Chicago.
>
> All publications resulting from the use of the FLASH Code must
> acknowledge the Flash Center for Computational Science.
>   Addition of the following text to the paper acknowledgments
> will be sufficient.
>
>          "The software used in this work was in part developed by the
>          DOE-supported Flash Center for Computational Science
>          at the University of Chicago."