The potential for using the sequential-modular, simultaneous-modular,
and equation-based approaches to process flowsheeting on multiprocessing
(parallel processing) computer architectures is assessed. The simultaneous-modular
and equation-based problem formulations appear to be the most promising,
but the sparse matrix techniques currently used, especially for the latter,
do not perform well on parallel machines. We consider two different decomposition
schemes for parallelizing the sparse matrix problems that must be solved.
These are the bordered-diagonal form and the bordered-block-diagonal form.
The latter takes advantage of the inherent block structure of the flowsheeting
matrix, and, especially for large problems, represents a promising strategy
for solving flowsheeting problems on parallel machines.
AIChE J., 38, 1399-1407 (1992)