Experiments in 3D with a three-point hierarchical basis preconditioner (Q676143)

The author has introduced elsewhere [The frequency decomposition multilevel method: A robust hierarchical basis preconditioner, Report 9533, University of Nijmegen (1995); Math. Comput. 65, No. 215, 983-997 (1996; Zbl 0856.65132)] a new hierarchical basis preconditioner along the lines set by W. Hackbusch in his frequency decomposition multilevel method. The new approach has the advantage of implying \(H^1\)-stability in the presence of \(L^2\)-stability, and this can be easily obtained for linear finite elements with only three nodal basis functions per level. This can be especially useful in stiff problems. In the present paper, the application of the author's three-point hierarchical basis preconditioners to three-dimensional problems is discussed thoroughly for the standard bilinear forms arising in linear elliptic problems and also tested for robustness via condition number; the variations include uniform and nonuniform refinements and highly discontinuous coefficients. A final section concentrates on anisotropic problems; the numerical experiments suggest in this case that the condition number growth is linear with respect to the number of spaces considered in the additive Schwarz preconditioner, when the anisotropic directions are given by the coordinate unit vectors, whereas it can be exponential for other directions.