[petsc-dev] Seeking Advice on Petsc Preconditioners to Try

Mark F. Adams mark.adams at columbia.edu
Thu Dec 29 13:11:05 CST 2011


First you need to set the block size for the matrix as I said before.

Then if this is a vector Laplacian like operator then the code can construct the null space with the node/cell coordinates, which is required for the method to be complete for a vector Lapalcian.  Here is a 3D example:

    ierr = PetscMalloc( (m+1)*sizeof(PetscReal), &coords ); CHKERRQ(ierr);
    /* forms the element stiffness for the Laplacian and coordinates */
    for(i=Ni0,ic=0,ii=0;i<Ni1;i++,ii++){
      for(j=Nj0,jj=0;j<Nj1;j++,jj++){
	for(k=Nk0,kk=0;k<Nk1;k++,kk++,ic++){
	  /* coords */
	  x = coords[3*ic] = h*(PetscReal)i; 
	  y = coords[3*ic+1] = h*(PetscReal)j; 
	  z = coords[3*ic+2] = h*(PetscReal)k;
	}
      }
    }

  ierr = KSPSetOperators( ksp, Amat, Amat, SAME_NONZERO_PATTERN ); CHKERRQ(ierr);
  ierr = PCSetCoordinates( pc, 3, coords );                   CHKERRQ(ierr);


On Dec 29, 2011, at 12:15 PM, Dave Nystrom wrote:

> Hi Mark,
> 
> I have tried out -ksp_type cg -pc_type gamg -pc_gamg_type sa on my problem
> and am encouraged enough with the results that I would like to try taking the
> next step with using gamg.  Could you provide some advice on how to do that?
> I'm not sure how to provide the null space info you say is important.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Dave
> 
> Mark F. Adams writes:
>> 
>> On Dec 20, 2011, at 10:33 AM, Dave Nystrom wrote:
>> 
>>> Hi Mark,
>>> 
>>> I would like to try GAMG on some of my linear solves.  Could you suggest how
>>> to get started?  Is it more complicated than something like:
>>> 
>>> -ksp_type cg -pc_type gamg
>> 
>> This is a good start.  for scalar SPD problems '-pc_gamg_type sa' is good (this might be the default, use -help to see.
>> 
>> Mark
>> 
>>> 
>>> I'm guessing I should first try it on one of my easier linear solves.  I have
>>> 5 of them that would have a block size of 1.  Are the other GAMG option
>>> defaults good to start with or should I be trying to configure them as well?
>>> If so, I'm not familiar enough with multigrid to know off hand how to do
>>> that.
>>> 
>>> Thanks,
>>> 
>>> Dave
>>> 
>>> Mark F. Adams writes:
>>>> 
>>>> On Dec 2, 2011, at 6:06 PM, Dave Nystrom wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> Mark F. Adams writes:
>>>>>> It sounds like you have a symmetric positive definite systems like du/dt -
>>>>>> div(alpha(x) grad)u.  The du/dt term makes the systems easier to solve.
>>>>>> I'm guessing your hard system does not have this mass term and so is
>>>>>> purely elliptic.  Multigrid is well suited for this type of problem, but
>>>>>> the vector nature requires some thought.  You could use PETSc AMG -pc_type
>>>>>> gamg but you need to tell it that you have a system of two dof/vertex.
>>>>>> You can do that with something like:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> ierr = MatSetBlockSize( mat, 2 );      CHKERRQ(ierr);
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> For the best results from GAMG you need to give it null space information
>>>>>> but we can worry about that later.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Hi Mark,
>>>>> 
>>>>> I have been interested in trying some of the multigrid capabilities in
>>>>> petsc.  I'm not sure I remember seeing GAMG so I guess I should go look for
>>>>> that.  
>>>> 
>>>> GAMG is pretty new.
>>>> 
>>>>> I have tried sacusp and sacusppoly but did not get good results on
>>>>> this particular linear system.  
>>>>> In particular, sacusppoly seems broken.  I
>>>>> can't get it to work even with the petsc src/ksp/ksp/examples/tutorials/ex2.c
>>>>> example.  Thrust complains about an invalid device pointer I believe.
>>>>> Anyway, I can get the other preconditioners to work just fine on this petsc
>>>>> example problem.  When I try sacusp on this matrix for the case of generating
>>>>> a rhs from a known solution vector, the computed solution seems to diverge
>>>>> from the exact solution.  We also have an interface to an external agmg
>>>>> package which is not able to solve this problem
>>>>> but works well on the other 5
>>>>> linear solves.  So I'd like to try more from the multigrid toolbox but do not
>>>>> know much about how to supply the extra stuff that these packages often need.
>>>>> 
>>>>> So, it sounds like you are suggesting that I try gamg and that I could at
>>>>> least try it out without having to initially supply lots of additional info.
>>>>> So I will take a look at gamg.
>>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> There are many things that can break a solver but most probably want to know that its a system so if you can set the block size and try gamg then that would be a good start.
>>>> 
>>>> Mark
>>>> 
>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>> 
>>>>> Dave
>>>>> 
>>>>>> Mark
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> On Nov 30, 2011, at 8:15 AM, Matthew Knepley wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> On Wed, Nov 30, 2011 at 12:41 AM, Dave Nystrom <dnystrom1 at comcast.net> wrote:
>>>>>>> I have a linear system in a code that I have interfaced to petsc that is
>>>>>>> taking about 80 percent of the run time per timestep.  This linear system is
>>>>>>> a symmetric block banded matrix where the blocks are 2x2.  The matrix looks
>>>>>>> as follows:
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
>>>>>>> 1X X                     Y Y Y
>>>>>>> 2X X X                     Y Y Y
>>>>>>> 3  X X X                     Y Y Y
>>>>>>> 4    X X X                     Y Y Y
>>>>>>> 5      X X X                     Y Y Y
>>>>>>> 6        X X X                     Y Y Y
>>>>>>> 7          X X X                     Y Y Y
>>>>>>> 8            X X X                     Y Y Y
>>>>>>> 9              X X X                     Y Y Y
>>>>>>> 0                X X X                     Y Y Y
>>>>>>> 1                  X X X                     Y Y Y
>>>>>>> 2                    X X X                     Y Y Y
>>>>>>> 3Z                     X X X                     Y Y Y
>>>>>>> 4Z Z                     X X X                     Y Y Y
>>>>>>> 5Z Z Z                     X X X                     Y Y Y
>>>>>>> 6  Z Z Z                     X X X                     Y Y Y
>>>>>>> 7    Z Z Z                     X X X                     Y Y Y
>>>>>>> 8      Z Z Z                     X X X                     Y Y Y
>>>>>>> 9        Z Z Z                     X X X                     Y Y Y
>>>>>>> 0          Z Z Z                     X X X                     Y Y Y
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> So in my diagram above, X, Y and Z are 2x2 blocks.  The symmetry of the
>>>>>>> matrix requires that X_ij = transpose(X_ji) and Y_ij = transpose(Z_ji).  So
>>>>>>> far, I have just input this matrix to petsc without indicating that it was
>>>>>>> block banded with 2x2 blocks.  I have also not told petsc that the matrix is
>>>>>>> symmetric.  And I have allowed petsc to decide the best way to store the
>>>>>>> matrix.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> I can solve this linear system over the course of a run using -ksp_type
>>>>>>> preonly -pc_type lu.  But that will not scale very well to larger problems
>>>>>>> that I want to solve.  I can also solve this system over the course of a run
>>>>>>> using -ksp_type cg -pc_type jacobi -vec_type cusp -mat_type aijcusp.
>>>>>>> However, over the course of a run, the iteration count ranges from 771 to
>>>>>>> 47300.  I have also tried sacusp, ainvcusp, sacusppoly, ilu(k) and icc(k)
>>>>>>> with k=0.  The sacusppoly preconditioner fails because of a thrust error
>>>>>>> related to an invalid device pointer, if I am remembering correctly.  I
>>>>>>> reported this problem to petsc-maint a while back and have also reported it
>>>>>>> for the cusp bugtracker.  But it does not appear that anyone has really
>>>>>>> looked into the bug.  For the other preconditioners of sacusp, ilu(k) and
>>>>>>> icc(k), they do not result in convergence to a solution and the runs fail.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> All preconditioners are custom. Have you done a literature search for PCs
>>>>>>> known to work for this problem? Can yu say anything about the spectrum of the
>>>>>>> operator? conditioning? what is the principal symbol (if its a PDE)? The pattern
>>>>>>> is not enough to recommend a PC.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Matt
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> I'm wondering if there are suggestions of other preconditioners in petsc that
>>>>>>> I should try.  The only third party package that I have tried is the
>>>>>>> txpetscgpu package.  I have not tried hypre or any of the multigrid
>>>>>>> preconditioners yet.  I'm not sure how difficult it is to try those
>>>>>>> packages.  Anyway, so far I have not found a preconditioner available in
>>>>>>> petsc that provides a robust solution to this problem and would be interested
>>>>>>> in any suggestions that anyone might have of things to try.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> I'd be happy to provide additional info and am planning on packaging up a
>>>>>>> couple of examples of the matrix and rhs for people I am interacting with at
>>>>>>> Tech-X and EMPhotonics.  So I'd be happy to provide the matrix examples for
>>>>>>> this forum as well if anyone wants a copy.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Dave
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>> Dave Nystrom
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> phone: 505-661-9943 (home office)
>>>>>>>    505-662-6893 (home)
>>>>>>> skype: dave.nystrom76
>>>>>>> email: dnystrom1 at comcast.net
>>>>>>> smail: 219 Loma del Escolar
>>>>>>>    Los Alamos, NM 87544
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> -- 
>>>>>>> What most experimenters take for granted before they begin their experiments is infinitely more interesting than any results to which their experiments lead.
>>>>>>> -- Norbert Wiener
>>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>> 
>>> 
>> 
> 




More information about the petsc-dev mailing list