CPU load during optimization

Xoptfoil2 makes intensive use of multithreading during particle swarm optimization. Each particle is assigned its own thread to perform the CPU-intensive viscous aerodynamic analysis with Xfoil.

A special parameter in the input file allows to control how many CPU threads Xoptfoil2 should use during optimization:

&optimization_options                            
  cpu_threads      = nThreads                         
/  

If nThreads is positive, that number of threads is used. If nThreads is negative, the maximum available thread count is reduced by nThreads.

In this example an optimization was just started using all available threads.

The default setting is cpu_threads = -1 leaving one thread free to allow more or less normal working with the PC.