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comm_style command

Syntax:

comm_style style 

Examples:

comm_style brick
comm_style tiled 

Description:

This command sets the style of inter-processor communication of atom information that occurs each timestep as coordinates and other properties are exchanged between neighboring processors and stored as properties of ghost atoms.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The tiled style is not yet implemented.

For the default brick style, the domain decomposition used by LAMMPS to partition the simulation box must be a regular 3d grid of bricks, one per processor. Each processor communicates with its 6 Cartesian neighbors in the grid to acquire information for nearby atoms.

For the tiled style, a more general domain decomposition can be used, as triggered by the balance or fix balance commands. The simulation box can be partitioned into non-overlapping rectangular-shaped "tiles" or varying sizes and shapes. Again there is one tile per processor. To acquire information for nearby atoms, communication must now be done with a more complex pattern of neighboring processors.

Note that this command does not actually define a partitoining of the simulation box (a domain decomposition), rather it determines what kinds of decompositions are allowed and the pattern of communication used to enable the decomposition. A decomposition is created when the simulation box is first created, via the create_box or read_data or read_restart commands. For both the brick and tiled styles, the initial decomposition will be the same, as described by create_box and processors commands. The decomposition can be changed via the balance or fix_balance commands.

Restrictions: none

Related commands:

comm_modify, processors, balance, fix balance

Default:

The default style is brick.