Quasi-Newton variable preconditioning for nonlinear elasticity systems in 3D

Abstract

Quasi-Newton iterations are constructed for the finite element solution of small-strain nonlinear elasticity systems in 3D. The linearizations are based on spectral equivalence and hence considered as variable preconditioners arising from proper simplifications in the differential operator. Convergence is proved, providing bounds uniformly w.r.t. the FEM discretization. Convenient iterative solvers for linearized systems are also proposed. Numerical experiments in 3D confirm that the suggested quasi-Newton methods are competitive with Newton's method.