Domain Decomposition with Local Mesh Refinement

Abstract

A preconditioned Krylov iterative algorithm based on domain decomposition for linear systems arising from implicit finite-difference or finite-element discretizations of partial differential equation problems requiring local mesh refinement is described. To keep data structures as simple as possible for parallel computing applications, the fundamental computational unit in the algorithm is defined as a subregion of the domain spanned by a locally uniform tensor-product grid, called a tile. In the tile-based domain decomposition approach, two levels of discretization are considered at each point of the domain: a global coarse grid defined by tile vertices only, and a local fine grid where the degree of resolution can vary from tile to tile. One global level and one local level provide the flexibility required to adaptively discretize a diverse collection of problems on irregular regions and solve them at convergence rates that deteriorate only logarithmically in the finest mesh parameter, with the coarse tessellation held fixed. A logarithmic departure from optimality seems to be a reasonable compromise for the simplicity of the composite grid data structure and concomitant regular data exchange patterns in a multiprocessor environment. Some experiments with up to 1024 tiles are reported, and the evolution of the algorithm is commented on and contrasted with optimal nonrefining two-level algorithms and optimal refining multilevel algorithms. Computational comparisons with some other popular methods are presented.