Mixed Precision Block-Jacobi Preconditioner: Algorithms, Performance Evaluation and Feature Analysis

Abstract: In this paper, we propose two mixed precision algorithms for Block-Jacobi preconditioner(BJAC): a fixed low precision strategy and an adaptive precision strategy. We evaluate the performance improvement of the proposed mixed precision BJAC preconditioners combined with the preconditioned conjugate gradient algorithm using problems including diffusion equations and radiation hydrodynamics equations. Numerical results show that, compared to the uniform high precision PCG algorithm, the mixed precision preconditioners can achieve speedups from 1.3 to 1.8 without sacrificing accuracy. Furthermore, we observe the phenomenon of convergence delay in some test cases for the mixed precision preconditioners, and further analyse the matrix features associate with the convergence delay behavior.