Multicloud: Multigrid convergence with a meshless operator

The primary objective of this work is to develop and test a new convergence acceleration technique we call multicloud. Multicloud is well-founded in the mathematical basis of multigrid, but relies on a meshless operator on coarse levels. The meshless operator enables extremely simple and automatic coarsening procedures for arbitrary meshes using arbitrary fine level discretization schemes. The performance of multicloud is compared with established multigrid techniques for structured and unstructured meshes for the Euler equations on two-dimensional test cases. Results indicate comparable convergence rates per unit work for multicloud and multigrid. However, because of its mesh and scheme transparency, multicloud may be applied to a wide array of problems with no modification of fine level schemes as is often required with agglomeration techniques. The implication is that multicloud can be implemented in a completely modular fashion, allowing researchers to develop fine level algorithms independent of the convergence accelerator for complex three-dimensional problems. 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.