A parallel preconditioned conjugate gradient method using domain decomposition and inexact solvers on each subdomain

We describe a preconditioned conjugate gradient solution strategy for a multiprocessor system with message passing architecture. The preconditioner combines two techniques, a Schurcomplement preconditioning over “coupling boundaries” between the subdomains and an arbitrary choice of classic preconditioning for the inner degrees of freedom on each subdomain. All computational work on the single subdomains is carried out in parallel by distributing the subdomain data over the processor network before starting the finite element solution process (including generating the element matrices and assemblying the local subdomain stiffness matrix). The resulting spectral condition number of the entire preconditioner is estimated. For the important example of choosing MIC(0)-*-preconditioning on the subdomains, the condition number obtained is essentially the product of the two condition numbers involved.