Preconditioning Techniques for Reduced Basis Methods for Parameterized Elliptic Partial Differential Equations

The reduced basis methodology is an efficient approach to solve parameterized discrete partial differential equations when the solution is needed at many parameter values. An offline step approximates the solution space, and an online step utilizes this approximation, the reduced basis, to solve a smaller reduced problem, which provides an accurate estimate of the solution. Traditionally, the reduced problem is solved using direct methods. However, the size of the reduced system needed to produce solutions of a given accuracy depends on the characteristics of the problem, and it may happen that the size is significantly smaller than that of the original discrete problem but large enough to make direct solution costly. In this scenario, it may be more effective to use iterative methods to solve the reduced problem. We construct preconditioners for reduced iterative methods which are derived from preconditioners for the full problem. This approach permits reduced basis methods to be practical for larger bases than direct methods allow. We illustrate the effectiveness of iterative methods for solving reduced problems by considering two examples, the steady-state diffusion and convection-diffusion-reaction equations.