Preconditioning for Allen-Cahn variational inequalities with non-local constraints

Abstract

The solution of Allen-Cahn variational inequalities with mass constraints is of interest
in many applications. This problem can be solved both in its scalar and vector-valued form as a
PDE-constrained optimization problem by means of a primal-dual active set method. At the heart
of this method lies the solution of linear systems in saddle point form. In this paper we propose the
use of Krylov-subspace solvers and suitable preconditioners for the saddle point systems. Numerical
results illustrate the competitiveness of this approach.