A high-performance backend-agnostic Material Point Method solver in Julia

We develop a user-friendly, high-performance Material Point Method (MPM) solver, MaterialPointSolver.jl , using the Julia language. The dual storage and interaction between material particles and the background grid limits the use of high-resolution models, and few solutions offer both performance and ease of use. Our backend-agnostic solver leverages GPU computing, enabling high-performance implementations across various platforms with a single codebase. We propose an effective memory throughput approach to evaluate GPU efficiency. The accuracy and efficiency of the solver are validated by four numerical examples, showing a 3.5 × speedup on a single-threaded CPU and a 19.4 × speedup on a 20-threaded CPU compared to optimized vectorized MATLAB code. Among four tested GPUs, it achieves a maximum average memory bandwidth utilization of 67%, reaching up to 78% (1453 GiB/s) in 2D tests. On the GH200 platform, the GPU shows a 21.3 × speedup over its multi-threaded CPU. Our solver can handle approximately 19.7 million double-precision material particles on a consumer-grade GPU with 10 GB memory, while on the GH200, it can manage around 190 million material particles. This study introduces advanced software capabilities along with backend-agnostic framework expertise to the field of geotechnical engineering. By utilizing parallel algorithms specifically designed for MPM and integrating a newly developed performance evaluation approach, it ensures rapid prototyping and seamless transition to production. This implementation empowers researchers and practitioners to promote the widespread adoption of high-resolution MPM models in geotechnical engineering. • Developed a high-performance Material Point Method solver for geomechanics. • Supports multiple hardware backends with a single codebase. • Simple installation and configuration lower the barrier to entry. • Performance is evaluated using effective memory throughput on the GH200 platform.

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Publication Details

Journal
Computers and Geotechnics
Published
2025-03-15
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2025.107189
Citations
7
Primary Topic
Fluid Dynamics Simulations and Interactions
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
9.34
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article

A high-performance backend-agnostic Material Point Method solver in Julia

Zenan Huo, Emmanuel Wyser, Gang Mei, Ludovic Räss et al.
7 citations
Computers and Geotechnics
Fluid Dynamics Simulations and Interactions
9.34
article

A high-performance backend-agnostic Material Point Method solver in Julia

Zenan Huo, Emmanuel Wyser, Gang Mei, Ludovic Räss, Yury Podladchikov, Yury Alkhimenkov, Michel Jaboyedoff
article en
7 citations

Abstract

We develop a user-friendly, high-performance Material Point Method (MPM) solver, MaterialPointSolver.jl , using the Julia language. The dual storage and interaction between material particles and the background grid limits the use of high-resolution models, and few solutions offer both performance and ease of use. Our backend-agnostic solver leverages GPU computing, enabling high-performance implementations across various platforms with a single codebase. We propose an effective memory throughput approach to evaluate GPU efficiency. The accuracy and efficiency of the solver are validated by four numerical examples, showing a 3.5 × speedup on a single-threaded CPU and a 19.4 × speedup on a 20-threaded CPU compared to optimized vectorized MATLAB code. Among four tested GPUs, it achieves a maximum average memory bandwidth utilization of 67%, reaching up to 78% (1453 GiB/s) in 2D tests. On the GH200 platform, the GPU shows a 21.3 × speedup over its multi-threaded CPU. Our solver can handle approximately 19.7 million double-precision material particles on a consumer-grade GPU with 10 GB memory, while on the GH200, it can manage around 190 million material particles. This study introduces advanced software capabilities along with backend-agnostic framework expertise to the field of geotechnical engineering. By utilizing parallel algorithms specifically designed for MPM and integrating a newly developed performance evaluation approach, it ensures rapid prototyping and seamless transition to production. This implementation empowers researchers and practitioners to promote the widespread adoption of high-resolution MPM models in geotechnical engineering. • Developed a high-performance Material Point Method solver for geomechanics. • Supports multiple hardware backends with a single codebase. • Simple installation and configuration lower the barrier to entry. • Performance is evaluated using effective memory throughput on the GH200 platform.

Computers and GeotechnicsVol. 183
China University of Geosciences (Beijing) (CN), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US), University of Lausanne (CH)
Openalex Percentile: Top 2%
Fluid Dynamics Simulations and Interactions
9.34
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