An accelerated Poisson solver based on multidomain spectral discretization

This paper presents a numerical method for variable coefficient elliptic PDEs with mostly smooth solutions on two dimensional domains. The method works best for domains that can readily be mapped onto a rectangle, or a collection of nonoverlapping rectangles. The PDE is discretized via a multi-domain spectral collocation method of high local order (order 30 and higher have been tested and work well). Local mesh refinement results in highly accurate solutions even in the presence of local irregular behavior due to corner singularities, localized loads, etc. The system of linear equations attained upon discretization is solved using a direct (as opposed to iterative) solver with \(O(N^{1.5})\) complexity for the factorization stage and \(O(N \log N)\) complexity for the solve. The scheme is ideally suited for executing the elliptic solve required when parabolic problems are discretized via time-implicit techniques. In situations where the geometry remains unchanged between time-steps, very fast execution speeds are obtained since the solution operator for each implicit solve can be pre-computed.     

A TWO-GRID METHOD FOR THE C0 INTERIOR PENALTY DISCRETIZATION OF THE MONGE-AMP(E)RE EQUATION

The purpose of this paper is to analyze an efficient method for the solution of the nonlinear system resulting from the discretization of the elliptic Monge-Ampère equation by a $C^0$ interior penalty method with Lagrange finite elements. We consider the two-grid method for nonlinear equations which consists in solving the discrete nonlinear system on a coarse mesh and using that solution as initial guess for one iteration of Newton's method on a finer mesh. Thus both steps are inexpensive. We give quasi-optimal $W^{1,\infty}$ error estimates for the discretization and estimate the difference between the interior penalty solution and the two-grid numerical solution. Numerical experiments confirm the computational efficiency of the approach compared to Newton's method on the fine mesh.     

A posteriori error estimation and adaptivity for elliptic optimal control problems with state constraints

In this paper optimal control problems governed by elliptic semilinear equations and subject to pointwise state constraints are considered. These problems are discretized using finite element methods and a posteriori error estimates are derived assessing the error with respect to the cost functional. These estimates are used to obtain quantitative information on the discretization error as well as for guiding an adaptive algorithm for local mesh refinement. Numerical examples illustrate the behavior of the method.     

An efficient linear second order unconditionally stable direct discretization method for the phase-field crystal equation on surfaces

We develop an unconditionally stable direct discretization scheme for solving the phase-field crystal equation on surfaces. The surface is discretized by using an unstructured triangular mesh. Gradient, divergence, and Laplacian operators are defined on triangular meshes. The proposed numerical method is second-order accurate in space and time. At each time step, the proposed computational scheme results in linear elliptic equations to be solved, thus it is easy to implement the algorithm. It is proved that the proposed scheme satisfies a discrete energy-dissipation law. Therefore, it is unconditionally stable. A fast and efficient biconjugate gradients stabilized solver is used to solve the resulting discrete system. Numerical experiments are conducted to demonstrate the performance of the proposed algorithm.     

A finite volume method on general surfaces and its error estimates

In this paper, we study a finite volume method and its error estimates for the numerical solution of some model second order elliptic partial differential equations defined on a smooth surface. The discretization is defined via a surface mesh consisting of piecewise planar triangles and piecewise polygons. The optimal error estimates of the approximate solution are proved in both the H¹ and L² norms which are of first order and second order respectively under mesh regularity assumptions. Some numerical tests are also carried out to experimentally verify our theoretical analysis.     

An Adaptive Newton Algorithm for Optimal Control Problems with Application to Optimal Electrode Design

In this work, we present an adaptive Newton-type method to solve nonlinear constrained optimization problems, in which the constraint is a system of partial differential equations discretized by the finite element method. The adaptive strategy is based on a goal-oriented a posteriori error estimation for the discretization and for the iteration error. The iteration error stems from an inexact solution of the nonlinear system of first-order optimality conditions by the Newton-type method. This strategy allows one to balance the two errors and to derive effective stopping criteria for the Newton iterations. The algorithm proceeds with the search of the optimal point on coarse grids, which are refined only if the discretization error becomes dominant. Using computable error indicators, the mesh is refined locally leading to a highly efficient solution process. The performance of the algorithm is shown with several examples and in particular with an application in the neurosciences: the optimal electrode design for the study of neuronal networks.     

Equivalent operator preconditioning for elliptic problems

The numerical solution of linear elliptic partial differential equations most often involves a finite element or finite difference discretization. To preserve sparsity, the arising system is normally solved using an iterative solution method, commonly a preconditioned conjugate gradient method. Preconditioning is a crucial part of such a solution process. In order to enable the solution of very large-scale systems, it is desirable that the total computational cost will be of optimal order, i.e. proportional to the degrees of freedom of the approximation used, which also induces mesh independent convergence of the iteration. This paper surveys the equivalent operator approach, which has proven to provide an efficient general framework to construct such preconditioners. Hereby one first approximates the given differential operator by some simpler differential operator, and then chooses as preconditioner the discretization of this operator for the same mesh. In this survey we give a uniform presentation of this approach, including theoretical foundation and several practically important applications for both symmetric and nonsymmetric equations and systems, and some nonlinear examples in the context of Newton linearization. Dedicated to the memory of Gene Golub for his friendly manner and for his broad interest and significant impact on numerical analysis.     

离散的Burgers-Ginzburg-Landau方程组的吸引子

文章通过对空间变量的有限差分方法离散了具有周期边值的Ｂｕｒｇｅｒｓ Ｇｉｎｚｂｕｒｇ Ｌａｎｄａｕ方程组．研究了这个离散方程组初值问题解的适定性．证明了当差分网格足够大时离散方程组存在吸引子，并得到了吸引子的Ｈａｕｓｄｏｒｆｆ维数和分形维数的上界估计．这个上界不会随着网格的加细而无限增大，因此数值分析离散的有限维系统的吸引子可以近似探讨原无限维系统的吸引子．     

Anisotropic mesh adaptation for numerical solution of boundary value problems

We present an efficient mesh adaptation algorithm that can be successfully applied to numerical solutions of a wide range of 2D problems of physics and engineering described by partial differential equations. We are interested in the numerical solution of a general boundary value problem discretized on triangular grids. We formulate a necessary condition for properties of the triangulation on which the discretization error is below the prescribed tolerance and control this necessary condition by the interpolation error. For a sufficiently smooth function, we recall the strategy how to construct the mesh on which the interpolation error is below the prescribed tolerance. Solving the boundary value problem we apply this strategy to the smoothed approximate solution. The novelty of the method lies in the smoothing procedure that, followed by the anisotropic mesh adaptation (AMA) algorithm, leads to the significant improvement of numerical results. We apply AMA to the numerical solution of an elliptic equation where the exact solution is known and demonstrate practical aspects of the adaptation procedure: how to control the ratio between the longest and the shortest edge of the triangulation and how to control the transition of the coarsest part of the mesh to the finest one if the two length scales of all the triangles are clearly different. An example of the use of AMA for the physically relevant numerical simulation of a geometrically challenging industrial problem (inviscid transonic flow around NACA0012 profile) is presented. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2004.     

Attractors and Dimensions for Discretizations of a Dissipative Zakharov Equations

Abstract In this paper, a dissipative Zakharov equations are discretized by difference method.We make priorestimates for the algebric system of equations. It is proved that for each mesh size,there exist attractors forthe discretized system.The bounds of the Hausdorff dimensions of the discrete attractors are obtained,and thevarious bounds are dependent of the mesh sizes.     

Convergence of the interpolated coefficient finite element method for the two‐dimensional elliptic sine‐Gordon equations

An interpolated coefficient finite element method is presented and analyzed for the two‐dimensional elliptic sine‐Gordon equations with Dirichlet boundary conditions. It is proved that the discretization scheme admits at least one solution, and that a subsequence of the approximation solutions converges to an exact solution in L²‐norm as the mesh size tends to zero. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2011     

Finding multiple solutions to elliptic systems with polynomial nonlinearity

Elliptic systems with polynomial nonlinearity usually possess multiple solutions. In order to find multiple solutions, such elliptic systems are discretized by eigenfunction expansion method (EEM). Error analysis of the discretization is presented, which is different from the error analysis of EEM for scalar elliptic equations in three aspects: first, the choice of framework for the nonlinear operator and the corresponding isomorphism of the linearized operator; second, the definition of an auxiliary problem in deriving the relation between the L² norm and H¹ norm of the Ritz projection error; third, the bilinearity/nonbilinearity of the linearized variational forms. The symmetric homotopy for the discretized equations preserves not only D₄ symmetry, but also structural symmetry. With the symmetric homotopy, a filter strategy and a finite element Newton refinement, multiple solutions to a system of semilinear elliptic equations arising from Bose–Einstein condensate are found.     

AN ITERATIVE SUBSTRUCTURING METHOD WITH NONCONFORMING ELEMENTS

When the red-black subdivisions are satisfied, an iterative substructuring method is proposed to solve the algebraic system of equations arising from the discretization of symmetric elliptic problems via nonconforming finite elements which are only continuous at the quasi-uniform mesh nodes. Theoretical analysis is given and the results of numerical experiments are reported.     

Second-order finite element approximations and a posteriori error estimation for two-dimensional parabolic systems

Summary We discuss an adaptive local refinement finite element method of lines for solving vector systems of parabolic partial differential equations on two-dimensional rectangular regions. The partial differential system is discretized in space using a Galerkin approach with piecewise eight-node serendipity functions. An a posteriori estimate of the spatial discretization error of the finite element solution is obtained using piecewise fifth degree polynomials that vanish on the edges of the rectangular elements of a grid. Ordinary differential equations for the finite element solution and error estimate are integrated in time using software for stiff differential systems. The error estimate is used to control a local spatial mesh refinement procedure in an attempt to keep a global measure of the error within prescribed limits. Examples appraising the accuracy of the solution and error estimate and the computational efficiency of the procedure relative to one using bilinear finite elements are presented.Dedicated to Prof. Ivo Babuka on the occasion of his 60th birthdayThis research was partially supported by the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Air Force Systems Command, USAF, under Grant Number AFOSR 85-0156 and the U.S. Army Research Office under Contract Number DAAL 03-86-K-0112     

Passerelles volumes finis — éléments finis

The aim of this work is to introduce a new algorithm for the dicretization of second order elliptic operators in the context of finite volume schemes. The technique consists in matching to a finite volume discretization based on a given mesh, a finite element volume representation on the same given mesh. An inverse operator is also built. The results of numerical experiments concerning a system of two-dimensional, nonlinear partial differential equations on a unstructured mesh are presented.     

Uniform convergence analysis of hybrid numerical scheme for singularly perturbed problems of mixed type

In this article, we consider a class of singularly perturbed mixed parabolic‐elliptic problems whose solutions possess both boundary and interior layers. To solve these problems, a hybrid numerical scheme is proposed and it is constituted on a special rectangular mesh which consists of a layer resolving piecewise‐uniform Shishkin mesh in the spatial direction and a uniform mesh in the temporal direction. The domain under consideration is partitioned into two subdomains. For the spatial discretization, the proposed scheme is comprised of the classical central difference scheme in the first subdomain and a hybrid finite difference scheme in the second subdomain, whereas the time derivative in the given problem is discretized by the backward‐Euler method. We prove that the method converges uniformly with respect to the perturbation parameter with almost second‐order spatial accuracy in the discrete supremum norm. Numerical results are finally presented to validate the theoretical results.© 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 30: 1931–1960, 2014     

Mesh independent superlinear convergence of an inner–outer iterative method for semilinear elliptic interface problems

We propose the damped inexact Newton method, coupled with preconditioned inner iterations, to solve the finite element discretization of a class of nonlinear elliptic interface problems. The linearized equations are solved by a preconditioned conjugate gradient method. Both the inner and outer iterations exhibit mesh independent superlinear convergence.     

Robust AMLI methods for parabolic Crouzeix-Raviart FEM systems

For the iterative solution of linear systems of equations arising from finite element discretization of elliptic problems there exist well-established techniques to construct numerically efficient and computationally optimal preconditioners. Among those, most often preferred choices are Multigrid methods (geometric or algebraic), Algebraic MultiLevel Iteration (AMLI) methods, Domain Decomposition techniques.In this work, the method in focus is AMLI. We extend its construction and the underlying theory over to systems arising from discretizations of parabolic problems, using non-conforming finite element methods (FEM). The AMLI method is based on an approximated block two-by-two factorization of the original system matrix. A key ingredient for the efficiency of the AMLI preconditioners is the quality of the utilized block two-by-two splitting, quantified by the so-called Cauchy-Bunyakowski-Schwarz (CBS) constant, which measures the abstract angle between the two subspaces, associated with the two-by-two block splitting of the matrix.The particular choice of space discretization for the parabolic equations, used in this paper, is Crouzeix-Raviart non-conforming elements on triangular meshes. We describe a suitable splitting of the so-arising matrices and derive estimates for the associated CBS constant. The estimates are uniform with respect to discretization parameters in space and time as well as with respect to coefficient and mesh anisotropy, thus providing robustness of the method.     

A numerical method for stationary shock problems with monotonic solutions

Numerical methods are considered for singularly perturbed quasilinear problems having interior-shock solutions. It is shown that the direct discretization on a layer-adapted mesh is ineffective for these problems. A special method is proposed for the case when the solution is monotonic: the problem is transformed by interchanging the dependent and independent variables, and it is then discretized on a uniform mesh. The method is analyzed both theoretically and numerically. It is shown that it can be effective, but that it is not entirely without problems. An approach for improving the method is suggested.     

On the stability of explicit finite difference methods for advection–diffusion equations

In this article we study the stability of explicit finite difference discretization of advection–diffusion equations (ADE) with arbitrary order of accuracy in the context of method of lines. The analysis first focuses on the stability of the system of ordinary differential equations that is obtained by discretizing the ADE in space and then extends to fully discretized methods in combination with explicit Runge–Kutta methods. In particular, we prove that all stable semi-discretization of the ADE leads to a conditionally stable fully discretized method as long as the time-integrator is at least first-order accurate, whereas high-order spatial discretization of the advection equation cannot yield a stable method if the temporal order is too low. In the second half of the article, the analysis and the stability results are extended to a partially dissipative wave system, which serves as a model for common practice in many fluid mechanics applications that incorporate a viscous stress in the momentum equation but no heat dissipation in the energy equation. Finally, the major theoretical predictions are verified by numerical examples.