Clemens Pechstein

Abstract robust coarse spaces for systems of PDEs via generalized eigenproblems in the overlaps

Coarse spaces are instrumental in obtaining scalability for domain decomposition methods for partial differential equations (PDEs). However, it is known that most popular choices of coarse spaces perform rather weakly in the presence of heterogeneities in the PDE coefficients, especially for systems of PDEs. Here, we introduce in a variational setting a new coarse space that is robust even when there are such heterogeneities. We achieve this by solving local generalized eigenvalue problems in the overlaps of subdomains that isolate the terms responsible for slow convergence. We prove a general theoretical result that rigorously establishes the robustness of the new coarse space and give some numerical examples on two and three dimensional heterogeneous PDEs and systems of PDEs that confirm this property.

Analysis of FETI methods for multiscale PDEs. Part II: interface variation

In this article, we give a new rigorous condition number estimate of the finite element tearing and interconnecting (FETI) method and a variant thereof, all-floating FETI. We consider a scalar elliptic equation in a two- or three-dimensional domain with a highly heterogeneous (multiscale) diffusion coefficient. This coefficient is allowed to have large jumps not only across but also along subdomain interfaces and in the interior of the subdomains. In other words, the subdomain partitioning does not need to resolve any jumps in the coefficient. Under suitable assumptions, we derive bounds for the condition numbers of one-level and all-floating FETI that are robust with respect to strong variations in the contrast in the coefficient, and that are explicit in some geometric parameters associated with the coefficient variation. In particular, robustness holds for face, edge, and vertex islands in high-contrast media. As a central tool we prove and use new weighted Poincaré and discrete Sobolev type inequalities that are explicit in the weight. Our theoretical findings are confirmed in a series of numerical experiments.

Finite and boundary element tearing and interconnecting solvers for multiscale problems

Preliminaries.- One-level FETI/BETI Methods.- Multiscale Problems.- Unbounded Domains.- Dual-Primal Methods.- References.- Index.- List of Symbols

Scaling up through domain decomposition

In this article, we discuss domain decomposition parallel iterative solvers for highly heterogeneous problems of flow and transport in porous media. We are particularly interested in highly unstructured coefficient variation where standard periodic or stochastic homogenization theory is not applicable. When the smallest scale at which the coefficient varies is very small, it is often necessary to scale up the equation to a coarser grid to make the problem computationally feasible. Standard upscaling or multiscale techniques require the solution of local problems in each coarse element, leading to a computational complexity that is at least linear in the global number N of unknowns on the subgrid. Moreover, except for the periodic and the isotropic random case, a theoretical analysis of the accuracy of the upscaled solution is not yet available. Multilevel iterative methods for the original problem on the subgrid, such as multigrid or domain decomposition, lead to similar computational complexity (i.e. 𝒪(N)) and are therefore a viable alternative. However, previously no theory was available guaranteeing the robustness of these methods to large coefficient variation. We review a sequence of recent papers where simple variants of domain decomposition methods, such as overlapping Schwarz and one-level FETI, are proposed that are robust to strong coefficient variation. Moreover, we also extend the theoretical results, for the first time, to the dual-primal variant of FETI.

Weighted Poincaré Inequalities and Applications in Domain Decomposition

Poincare type inequalities play a central role in the analysis of domain decomposition and multigrid methods for second-order elliptic problems. However, when the coefficient varies within a subdomain or within a coarse grid element, then standard condition number bounds for these methods may be overly pessimistic. In this short note we present new weighted Poincare type inequalities for a class of piecewise constant coefficients that lead to sharper bounds independent of any possible large contrasts in the coefficients.

Shape-explicit constants for some boundary integral operators

Among the well-known constants in the theory of boundary integral equations are the coercivity constants of the single-layer potential and the hypersingular boundary integral operator, and the contraction constant of the double-layer potential. Whereas there have been rigorous studies how these constants depend on the size and aspect ratio of the underlying domain, only little is known on their dependency on the shape of the boundary. In this article, we consider the homogeneous Laplace equation and derive explicit estimates for the above-mentioned constants in three dimensions. Using an alternative trace norm, we make the dependency explicit in two geometric parameters, the so-called Jones parameter and the constant in Poincarés inequality. The latter one can be tracked back to the constant in an isoperimetric inequality. There are many domains with quite irregular boundaries, where these parameters stay bounded. Our results provide a new tool in the analysis of numerical methods for boundary integral equations and in particular for boundary element based domain decomposition methods.

Boundary concentrated finite elements for optimal boundary control problems of elliptic PDEs

We investigate the discretization of optimal boundary control problems for elliptic equations on two-dimensional polygonal domains by the boundary concentrated finite element method. We prove that the discretization error

Coupled FETI/BETI Solvers for Nonlinear Potential Problems in (Un)Bounded Domains

\|u^{*}-u_{h}^{*}\|_{L^{2}(\Gamma)}

A Non‐standard Finite Element Method for Convection‐Diffusion‐Reaction Problems on Polyhedral Meshes

decreases like N−1, where N is the total number of unknowns. This makes the proposed method favorable in comparison to the h-version of the finite element method, where the discretization error behaves like N−3/4 for uniform meshes. Moreover, we present an algorithm that solves the discretized problem in almost optimal complexity. The paper is complemented with numerical results.

New Theoretical Coefficient Robustness Results for FETI-DP

In nonlinear electromagnetic field computations, one is not only faced with large jumps of material coefficients across material interfaces but also with high variation in these coefficients even inside homogeneous materials due to the nonlinearity. The radiation condition can conveniently be taken into account by a coupled boundary integral and domain integral variational formulation. The coupled finite and boundary element discretization leads to large-scale nonlinear algebraic systems. In this paper we propose special inexact Newton methods where the Jacobi systems arising in every step of the Newton method are solved by a special preconditioned finite and boundary element tearing and interconnecting solver. The numerical experiments show that the preconditioner proposed in the paper can handle large jumps in the coefficients across the material interfaces as well as high variation in these coef- ficients on the subdomains. Furthermore, the convergence does not deteriorate if many inner subdomains touch the unbounded exterior subdomain.