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PLUTO 4.0 Released
It is now available PLUTO 4.0, the new version of a widely used modular code for computational astrophysics.
PLUTO is a freely-distributed software for the numerical solution of mixed hyperbolic/parabolic systems of partial differential equations (conservation laws) targeting high Mach number flows in astrophysical fluid dynamics. The code is designed with a modular and flexible structure whereby different numerical algorithms can be separately combined to solve systems of conservation laws using the finite volume or finite difference approach based on Godunov-type schemes.
Equations are discretized and solved on a structured mesh that can be either static or adaptive. For the latter functionality, PLUTO relies on the Chombo library which provides a distributed infrastructure for parallel calculations over block-structured, adaptively refined grids.
The static grid version of PLUTO is entirely written in the C programming language while the adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) interface requires also C++ and Fortran.
PLUTO is a highly portable software and can run from a single workstation up to several thousands processors using the Message Passing Interface (MPI) to achieve highly scalable parallel performance.
The software is developed at the Dipartimento di Fisica, Torino University in a joint collaboration with INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Torino and the SCAI Department of CINECA.
The collaboration with CINECA started in June 2011 thanks to a PRACE Preparatory Access Call.
http://www.prace-ri.eu/IMG/pdf/petascale_astrophysical_simulations_with_pluto.pdf