A hierarchical preconditioner for the mortar finite element method (Q1920187)

The weak formulation of linear second-order elliptic problems in the plane, when discretised by means of the mortar finite element method, which employs nonconforming elements, leads to the necessity of solving a linear system with symmetric positive definite matrix. The paper has as its main objective to produce good preconditioners, similar to those known for conforming elements. The elements considered here are piecewise linear and the domain is split into triangular subregions, that are geometrically conforming; interface jumps are allowed but made orthogonal to convenient spaces. A reformulation of Yserentant's hierachical basis combined with the additive Schwarz method produces an equivalent system where unknowns belonging to the inner part of the subregions and those corresponding to boundaries with Neumann conditions have been eliminated. For this new system the condition number is bounded by \(C(1+l)^2\), where \(C\) is a constant that only depends on the minimal angle of the original triangulation and \(l\) is an upper bound for the number of successive nested refinements with conforming elements used for each of the triangles in the initial decomposition. The paper also contains two numerical examples which illustrate the method and suggest that it can be competitive with conforming element methods.