The LCAP Project

Much of the pioneering work in applying parallel processing to large problems in computational chemistry is due to Enrico Clementi and coworkers, and the development of the LCAP parallel processing systems (see Ref. 90 and the numerous references therein). The LCAP (loosely coupled array of processors) project commenced in 1983, with the stated aim of coupling readily available commercial processors to form a system that is not massively parallel, but rather is modular and can be expanded to match the degree of parallelism that a set of applications can support. 

IBM VMS operating system) and 10 FPS-264 processors (each with 1 Gbyte disk storage). 

There can be little doubt that the pioneering work of dementi and coworkers provided much impetus for subsequent developments, many of which were based on implementing the replicated data methods, initially developed on the LCAP systems, onto more affordable microprocessor-based hardware platforms typified by the Transputer and i860 RISC chip. 

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Following a general overview, that summarizes the pioneering role of the LCAP project, o give accounts of work in quantum chemistry, molecular dynamics, and reaction dynamics. Each of these subsections is organized to review the development and current status of codes in the area and to provide an overview of work under way where serial implementations are migrating onto parallel architectures. 

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