A new multilevel method for electrostatic problems through hierarchical loop basis

We present a new multilevel method for calculating Poisson's equation, which often arises from electrostatic problems, by using hierarchical loop basis. This method, termed as hierarchical Loop basis Poisson Solver (hieLPS), extends previous Poisson solver through loop-tree basis to a multilevel mesh. In this method, Poisson's equation is solved by a two-step procedure: first, the electric flux is found by using loop-tree basis based on Helmholtz decomposition of field; second, the potential distribution is solved rapidly with a fast solution of O(N) complexity. Among the solution procedures, finding the loop part of electric flux is the most critical part and dominates the computational time. To expedite this part's convergent speed, we propose to use hierarchical loop basis to construct a multilevel system. As a result, the whole solution time has been noticeably reduced. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed method. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.