GPU accelerated contact simulations

This project aims at implementing a GPU accelerated non-linear solver for hyperelastic neo- Hookian models with contact. The project will build on the PolyFEM [11], a C++ and Python finite element library (https://polyfem.github.io/), coupled with the Incremental potential contact method which allows accurate simulation of surface-to-surface contact (https://ipc- sim.github.io/). Currently, PolyFEM relies on multithreading libraries like TBB, the strategy is to reengineer the non-linear solver section of the code to make it suitable for CUDA [10] device functions taking advantage of libraries such as cuBLAS, cuSPARSE, Thrust and external sparse linear solvers with GPU support. Our goal is to obtain a performance improvement of stress tests in comparison with multithreading implementation from low to high end CPUs. The project will be conducted in collaboration with Teseo Schneider (University of Victoria).