Real-time parallel computation and visualization of ultrasonic pulses in solids.

Parallel processing has changed the way much computational physics is done. Areas such as condensed matter physics, fluid dynamics, and other fields are making use of massively parallel computers to solve immense and important problems in new ways. Simulating wave propagation is another area that has benefited through the use of parallel processing. This is graphically illustrated in this article by various numerical simulations of ultrasonic pulses propagating through solids carried out on a massively parallel computer. These computations are accompanied by visualizations of the resulting wavefield. The calculations and visualizations, together, can be completed in only seconds to several minutes and compare well with experimental data. The computations and parallel processing techniques described should be important in related fields, such as geophysics, acoustics, and mechanics.