Enhancing the performance of checkerboard Thomas method by using shared memory for solving the heat transfer problems on GPU

General Purpose Graphics Processing Unite (GPGPU) allows the user to utilize GPU for general computing purposes. Using these processors can cause a significant speedup in numerical calculation for solving CFD problems. Several studies have been performed to investigate the advantages of using the GPGPU in numerical calculations including solving tridiagonal set of equations. In 2016, Checkerboard method introduced for solving tridiagonal set of equations in ADI solvers. In this method each set of equations is divided in to several smaller independent set of equations. Then each one of them will be solved by Thomas algorithm in checkerboard style. In addition to the participation of many threads, in this method it is possible to store the information of each set of equation in shared memory. In the present research, according to consideration around using shared memory, a strategy for using this memory in checkerboard Thomas method has been offered. Results shows that utilizing shared memory has been caused to computing speedup between 1.2x to 1.6x, compared with utilizing global memory. Also, it was found that bank conflict causes to decrease the speed from 10.9% to 18.8% in checkerboard Thomas method.