The alternate-block-factorization procedure for systems of partial differential equations

The alternate-block-factorization (ABF) method is a procedure for partially decoupling systems of elliptic partial differential equations by means of a carefully chosen change of variables. By decoupling we mean that the ABF strategy attempts to reduce intra-equation coupling in the system rather than intra-grid coupling for a single elliptic equation in the system. This has the effect of speeding convergence of commonly used iteration schemes, which use the solution of a sequence of linear elliptic PDEs as their main computational step. Algebraically, the change of variables is equivalent to a postconditioning of the original system. The results of using ABF postconditioning on some problems arising from semiconductor device simulation are discussed.