A posteriori error estimators for the Stokes equations II non-conforming discretizations

Summary We present an a posteriori error estimator for the non-conforming Crouzeix-Raviart discretization of the Stokes equations which is based on the local evaluation of residuals with respect to the strong form of the differential equation. The error estimator yields global upper and local lower bounds for the error of the finite element solution. It can easily be generalized to the stationary, incompressible Navier-Stokes equations and to other non-conforming finite element methods. Numerical examples show the efficiency of the proposed error estimator.     

A posteriori finite element error estimators for indefinite elliptic boundary value problems ∗

A general construction technique is presented for a posteriori error estimators of finite element solutions of elliptic boundary value problems that satisfy a Gång inequality. The estimators are obtained by an element–by–element solution of ‘weak residual’ with or without considering element boundary residuals. There is no order restriction on the finite element spaces used for the approximate solution or the error estimation; that is, the design of the estimators is applicable in connection with either one of the h–p–, or hp– formulations of the finite element method. Under suitable assumptions it is shown that the estimators are bounded by constant multiples of the true error in a suitable norm. Some numerical results are given to demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the approach.     

Error estimators for advection–reaction–diffusion equations based on the solution of local problems

This paper deals with a posteriori error estimates for advection–reaction–diffusion equations. In particular, error estimators based on the solution of local problems are derived for a stabilized finite element method. These estimators are proved to be equivalent to the error, with equivalence constants eventually depending on the physical parameters. Numerical experiments illustrating the performance of this approach are reported.     

A posteriori error estimators for nonconforming finite element methods of the linear elasticity problem

In this work we derive and analyze a posteriori error estimators for low-order nonconforming finite element methods of the linear elasticity problem on both triangular and quadrilateral meshes, with hanging nodes allowed for local mesh refinement. First, it is shown that equilibrated Neumann data on interelement boundaries are simply given by the local weak residuals of the numerical solution. The first error estimator is then obtained by applying the equilibrated residual method with this set of Neumann data. From this implicit estimator we also derive two explicit error estimators, one of which is similar to the one proposed by Dörfler and Ainsworth (2005) [24] for the Stokes problem. It is established that all these error estimators are reliable and efficient in a robust way with respect to the Lamé constants. The main advantage of our error estimators is that they yield guaranteed, i.e., constant-free upper bounds for the energy-like error (up to higher order terms due to data oscillation) when a good estimate for the inf-sup constant is available, which is confirmed by some numerical results.     

Local a-posteriori error indicators for the Galerkin discretization of boundary integral equations

In this paper we present local a-posteriori error indicators for the Galerkin discretization of boundary integral equations. These error indicators are introduced and investigated by Babuška-Rheinboldt [3] for finite element methods. We transfer them from finite element methods onto boundary element methods and show that they are reliable and efficient for a wide class of integral operators under relatively weak assumptions. These local error indicators are based on the computable residual and can be used for controlling the adaptive mesh refinement. Received March 4, 1996 / Revised version received September 25, 1996     

WEB-spline based mesh-free finite element analysis for the approximation of the stationary Navier–Stokes problem

The objective in this paper is to discuss the existence and the uniqueness of a weighted extended B$B$-spline (WEB-spline) based discrete solution for the stationary incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. The WEB-spline discretization is newly developed methodology which satisfies the inf–sup condition or Ladyshenskaya–Babus?ka–Brezzi (LBB) condition. The main advantage of these new elements over standard finite elements is that they use regular grids instead of irregular partitions of the domain, thus eliminating the difficult and time-consuming pre-processing step. An error estimate for this WEB-spline based discrete solution is also obtained.     

On the finite volume element method

Summary The finite volume element method (FVE) is a discretization technique for partial differential equations. It uses a volume integral formulation of the problem with a finite partitioning set of volumes to discretize the equations, then restricts the admissible functions to a finite element space to discretize the solution. this paper develops discretization error estimates for general selfadjoint elliptic boundary value problems with FVE based on triangulations with linear finite element spaces and a general type of control volume. We establishO(h) estimates of the error in a discreteH ¹ semi-norm. Under an additional assumption of local uniformity of the triangulation the estimate is improved toO(h ²). Results on the effects of numerical integration are also included.This research was sponsored in part by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research under grant number AFOSR-86-0126 and the National Science Foundation under grant number DMS-8704169. This work was performed while the author was at the University of Colorado at Denver     

A posteriori error estimation and error control for finite element approximations of the time-dependent Navier–Stokes equations

We present an approach to estimate numerical errors in finite element approximations of the time-dependent Navier–Stokes equations along with a strategy to control these errors. The error estimators and the error control procedure are based on the residuals of the Navier–Stokes equations, which are shown to be comparable to error components in the velocity variable. The present methodology applies to the estimation of numerical errors due to the spatial discretization only. Its performance is demonstrated for two-dimensional channel flows past a cylinder in the periodic regime.     

A type of new posteriori error estimators for stokes problems

1. IntroductionIn the numerical approximation of PDE, it is often very importals to detect regionswhere the accuracy of the numerical solution is degraded by local singularities of the solutionof the continuous problem such as the singularity near the re-entrant corller. An obviousremedy is to refine the discretization in the critical regions, i.e., to place more gridpointswhere the solution is less regular. The question is how to identify these regions automdticallyand how to determine a goo…     

An adaptive stabilized finite element method for the generalized Stokes problem

In this work we present an adaptive strategy (based on an a posteriori error estimator) for a stabilized finite element method for the Stokes problem, with and without a reaction term. The hierarchical type estimator is based on the solution of local problems posed on appropriate finite dimensional spaces of bubble-like functions. An equivalence result between the norm of the finite element error and the estimator is given, where the dependence of the constants on the physics of the problem is explicited. Several numerical results confirming both the theoretical results and the good performance of the estimator are given.     

The influence and selection of subspaces for a posteriori error estimators

Summary. The element residual method for a posteriori error estimation is analyzed for degree finite element approximation on quadrilateral elements. The influence of the choice of subspace used to solve the element residual problem is studied. It is shown that the resulting estimators will be consistent (or asymptotically exact) for all if and only if the mesh is parallel. Moreover, even if the mesh consists of rectangles, then the estimators can be inconsistent when . The results provide concrete guidelines for the selection of a posteriori error estimators and establish the limits of their performance. In particular, the use of the element residual method for high orders of approximation (such as those arising in the - version finite element method) is vindicated. The mechanism behind the rather poor performance of the estimators is traced back to the basic formulation of the residual problem. The investigations reveal a deficiency in the formulation, leading, as it does, to spurious modes in the true solution of the residual problem. The recommended choice of subspaces may be viewed as being sufficient to guarantee that the spurious modes are filtered out from the approximate solution while at the same time retaining a sufficient degree of approximation to represent the true modes. Received February 27, 1995 / Revised version received June 7, 1995     

A parallel two-level finite element variational multiscale method for the Navier–Stokes equations

A combination method of two-grid discretization approach with a recent finite element variational multiscale algorithm for simulation of the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations is proposed and analyzed. The method consists of a global small-scale nonlinear Navier–Stokes problem on a coarse grid and local linearized residual problems in overlapped fine grid subdomains, where the numerical form of the Navier–Stokes equations on the coarse grid is stabilized by a stabilization term based on two local Gauss integrations at element level and defined by the difference between a consistent and an under-integrated matrix involving the gradient of velocity. By the technical tool of local a priori estimate for the finite element solution, error bounds of the discrete solution are estimated. Algorithmic parameter scalings are derived. Numerical tests are also given to verify the theoretical predictions and demonstrate the effectiveness of the method.     

Analysis of a Stokes interface problem

We consider a stationary Stokes problem with a piecewise constant viscosity coefficient. For the variational formulation of this problem we prove a well-posedness result in which the constants are uniform with respect to the jump in the viscosity coefficient. We apply a standard discretization with a pair of LBB stable finite element spaces. The main result of the paper is an infsup result for the discrete problem that is uniform with respect to the jump in the viscosity coefficient. From this we derive a robust estimate for the discretization error. We prove that the mass matrix with respect to some suitable scalar product yields a robust preconditioner for the Schur complement. Results of numerical experiments are presented that illustrate this robustness property. This author was supported by the German Research Foundation through the guest program of SFB 540     

Error analysis of upwind‐discretizations for the steady‐state incompressible Navier–Stokes equations

Within the framework of finite element methods, the paper investigates a general approximation technique for the nonlinear convective term of the Navier–Stokes equations. The approach is based on an upwind method of finite volume type. It is proved that the discrete convective term satisfies a well‐known collection of sufficient conditions for convergence of the finite element solution. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A posteriori error estimations of residual type for Signorini's problem

This paper presents an a posteriori error analysis for the linear finite element approximation of the Signorini problem in two space dimensions. A posteriori estimations of residual type are defined and upper and lower bounds of the discretization error are obtained. We perform several numerical experiments in order to compare the convergence of the terms in the error estimator with the discretization error.     

Recovery type superconvergence and a posteriori error estimates for control problems governed by Stokes equations

In this paper, we derive recovery type superconvergence analysis and a posteriori error estimates for the finite element approximation of the distributed optimal control governed by Stokes equations. We obtain superconvergence results and asymptotically exact a posteriori error estimates by applying two recovery methods, which are the patch recovery technique and the least-squares surface fitting method. Our results are based on some regularity assumption for the Stokes control problems and are applicable to the first order conforming finite element method with regular but nonuniform partitions.     

On the asymptotic exactness of error estimators for linear triangular finite elements

Summary This paper deals with a-posteriori error estimates for piecewise linear finite element approximations of elliptic problems. We analyze two estimators based on recovery operators for the gradient of the approximate solution. By using superconvergence results we prove their asymptotic exactness under regularity assumptions on the mesh and the solution.One of the estimators can be easily computed in terms of the jumps of the gradient of the finite element approximation. This estimator is equivalent to the error in the energy norm under rather general conditions. However, we show that for the asymptotic exactness, the regularity assumption on the mesh is not merely technical. While doing this, we analyze the relation between superconvergence and asymptotic exactness for some particular examples.     

A mixed formulation for 3D magnetostatic problems: theoretical analysis and face-edge finite element approximation

Summary. A mixed field-based variational formulation for the solution of threedimensional magnetostatic problems is presented and analyzed. This method is based upon the minimization of a functional related to the error in the constitutive magnetic relationship, while constraints represented by Maxwell's equations are imposed by means of Lagrange multipliers. In this way, both the magnetic field and the magnetic induction field can be approximated by using the most appropriate family of vector finite elements, and boundary conditions can be imposed in a natural way. Moreover, this method is more suitable than classical approaches for the approximation of problems featuring strong discontinuities of the magnetic permeability, as is usually the case. A finite element discretization involving face and edge elements is also proposed, performing stability analysis and giving error estimates. Received January 23, 1998 / Revised version received July 23, 1998 / Published online September 24, 1999     

Pointwise a posteriori error estimates for monotone semi-linear equations

We derive upper and lower a posteriori estimates for the maximum norm error in finite element solutions of monotone semi-linear equations. The estimates hold for Lagrange elements of any fixed order, non-smooth nonlinearities, and take numerical integration into account. The proof hinges on constructing continuous barrier functions by correcting the discrete solution appropriately, and then applying the continuous maximum principle; no geometric mesh constraints are thus required. Numerical experiments illustrate reliability and efficiency properties of the corresponding estimators and investigate the performance of the resulting adaptive algorithms in terms of the polynomial order and quadrature.     

Decay rates of adaptive finite elements with Dörfler marking

We investigate the decay rate for an adaptive finite element discretization of a second order linear, symmetric, elliptic PDE. We allow for any kind of estimator that is locally equivalent to the standard residual estimator. This includes in particular hierarchical estimators, estimators based on the solution of local problems, estimators based on local averaging, equilibrated residual estimators, the ZZ-estimator, etc. The adaptive method selects elements for refinement with Dörfler marking and performs a minimal refinement in that no interior node property is needed. Based on the local equivalence to the residual estimator we prove an error reduction property. In combination with minimal Dörfler marking this yields an optimal decay rate in terms of degrees of freedom.