High-Performance Computing Center Stuttgart

GPU Porting for HPC: Opportunities, Tools and Libraries

 

This two-day online webinar introduces GPU porting for high-performance computing (HPC), focusing on opportunities, programming approaches and portable tools. It will help participants assess where GPU acceleration may benefit their applications and understand the first steps in adapting scientific and engineering codes.

The programme begins with an introduction to CPU and GPU architectures, their implications for performance, and the main GPU programming models. The second session introduces alpaka, an open-source C++ library for portable parallel programming across supported CPU and GPU backends. Topics include project setup, core concepts, a first kernel, and higher-level algorithms. Friday's session will start with an introduction to the multipysics framework m-AIA. The final session will introduce RedSim, a GPU-accelerated CFD simulation framework designed to model urban air pollution.

This course is organised by HLRS in cooperation with EXCELLERAT P2, HiDALGO2 and Plasma-PEPSC, under the umbrella of High-Performance GPU Alliance.

Location

Online course
Organizer: HLRS, University of Stuttgart, Germany

Start date

Nov 05, 2026
08:45

End date

Nov 06, 2026
16:00

Language

English

Entry level

Basic

Intermediate

Course subject areas

Hardware Accelerators

Parallel Programming

Topics

C/C++

GPU Programming

Software Modules

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Instructors

Tobias Haas (HLRS)
Tapish Narwal (HZDR / CASUS)
Tim Wegmann (RWTH Aachen University)
Mátyás Y. Constans (SZE)

Agenda

Preliminary Agenda:

Thursday, 5. November

8:45 Log in to the videoconference
9:00 Welcome
9:05 - 12:00 (including breaks)
Introduction to GPU Programming - Opportunities and Challenges (HLRS)

  • Differences between CPU and GPU
  • GPU Architecture and Consequences
  • Programming models
  • Summary
  • Discussion

12:00 Lunch break

13:00 - 16:00 (including breaks)
The alpaka library: task-parallel kernel execution on heterogenous hardware (PLASMA-PEPSC)

  • Introduction
  • Getting alpaka & project setup
  • Basic concepts
  • First kernel
  • Higher-level algorithms & helpers
  • Summary
  • Discussion / Q&A
     

Friday, 6. November

9:00 - 12:00 (including breaks)
The multiphysics framework m-AIA (EXCELLERAT)

  • Welcome and Introduction to the multiphysics framework m-AIA
  • GPU porting in C++ with parallel STL in m-AIA
  • Discussion and Coffee break
  • Adaptation and dynamic load balancing on GPUs

12:00 Lunch break

13:00 - 16:00 (including breaks)
Efficient GPU Implementation of the Finite Volume Method on Unstructured Meshes (HIDALGO)

  • Building the Mesh
    • Introduction
    • Sorting as a mechanism for adjacency, RADIX Sort on the GPU
    • Sub-Meshes, Halo cells
    • Reordering Meshes using Space Filling Curves
    • Grouping interior and boundary touching cells
  • Simulation, Runtime Communication and Kernels
    • Halo communication patterns
    • Maximizing work while communicationg
    • GPU topolog: inter-node vs extra-node GPUs
    • Load balancing
    • Custom standard lobrary overview
  • Physical Method Overview, demonstration
    • Solving scalar transport, kernel overviews
    • Demonstration of RedSIMon a cube mesh
      • SOD problem: defining the IC, BC via CUDA kernel programming
      • Taylor-Green problem: defining the IC, BC, and Source term via custom CUDA kernel programming
         
         

Application

Apply via the button at the top of this page.

Application phase closes on November, 4, 2026.

Fees

This course is free of charge.

Only participants from institutions belonging to EU and EuroHPC JU member states can apply to this course.

Contact

Lucienne Dettki phone 0711 685 63894, training(at)hlrs.de
Abdullatif Eymash phone 0711 685 87244

Further courses and training team

See the training overview and the Supercomputing Academy pages.
See also information about the HLRS training department and staff.

Official course URL(s)

https://www.hlrs.de/training/2026/gpu-alliance and the EXCELLERAT course webpage.

HLRS Training Collaborations in HPC and AI

HLRS is part of the Gauss Centre for Supercomputing (GCS), together with JSC in Jülich and LRZ in Garching near Munich. SIDE is the German National Competence Centre (NCC) for High-Performance Computing. HLRS is also a member of the Baden-Württemberg initiative bwHPC. 
Since 2025, HLRS has been coordinating one of the AI Factories of the EuroHPC JU: HammerHAI. 

Acknowledgements

This course is supported by EuroCC 3 and organised in cooperation with EXCELLERAT P2, HiDALGO2 and Plasma-PEPSC.

We gratefully acknowledge the funding supporting these projects:
EuroCC 3: European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) grant 101306701, supported by the European Union’s Digital Europe Programme and contributions from participating countries.EXCELLERAT P2: EuroHPC JU grant 101092621, with funding from the European Union and Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and France.

EU EuroHPC-JU

Further courses and training team

See the training overview and the Supercomputing Academy pages.
See also information about the HLRS training department and staff.

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High-Performance Computing Center Stuttgart Nobelstraße 19, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany

Contact & Location

A member of the Gauss Centre for Supercomputing, HLRS is one of three German national centers for high-performance computing.

www.gauss-centre.eu

HLRS is a central unit of the University of Stuttgart.

www.uni-stuttgart.de/en/

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