Supraconvergence and Supercloseness of a Scheme for Elliptic Equations on Nonuniform Grids

In this paper, we study the convergence of a finite difference scheme on nonuniform grids for the solution of second-order elliptic equations with mixed derivatives and variable coefficients in polygonal domains subjected to Dirichlet boundary conditions. We show that the scheme is equivalent to a fully discrete linear finite element approximation with quadrature. It exhibits the phenomenon of supraconvergence, more precisely, for s ∈ [1,2] order O(h ^s )-convergence of the finite difference solution, and its gradient is shown if the exact solution is in the Sobolev space H ^1+s (Ω). In the case of an equation with mixed derivatives in a domain containing oblique boundary sections, the convergence order is reduced to O(h ^3/2?ε) with ε > 0 if u ∈ H ³(Ω). The second-order accuracy of the finite difference gradient is in the finite element context nothing else than the supercloseness of the gradient. For s ∈ {1,2}, the given error estimates are strictly local.     

Error Estimates for Finite Element Approximations of a Viscous Wave Equation

We consider a family of fully discrete finite element schemes for solving a viscous wave equation, where the time integration is based on the Newmark method. A rigorous stability analysis based on the energy method is developed. Optimal error estimates in both time and space are obtained. For sufficiently smooth solutions, it is demonstrated that the maximal error in the L ²-norm over a finite time interval converges optimally as O(h ^p+1 + Δt ^s ), where p denotes the polynomial degree, s = 1 or 2, h the mesh size, and Δt the time step.     

A Priori Error Estimates for Finite Element Methods for H (2,1)-Elliptic Equations

The convergence of finite element methods for linear elliptic boundary value problems of second and forth order is well understood. In this article, we introduce finite element approximations of some linear semi-elliptic boundary value problem of mixed order on a two-dimensional rectangular domain Q. The equation is of second order in one direction and forth order in the other and appears in the optimal control of parabolic partial differential equations if one eliminates the control and the state (or the adjoint state) in the first order optimality conditions. We establish a regularity result and estimate for the finite element error of conforming approximations of this equation. The finite elements in use have a tensor product structure, in one dimension we use linear, quadratic or cubic Lagrange elements in the other dimension cubic Hermite elements. For these elements, we prove the error bound O(h ² + τ ^k ) in the energy norm and O((h ² + τ ^k )(h ² + τ)) in the L ²(Q)-norm.     

On numerical solution of stochastic partial differential equations of elliptic type

We study lattice approximations of stochastic PDEs of elliptic type, driven by a white noise on a bounded domain in ? ^d , for d = 1, 2, 3. We obtain estimates for the rate of convergence of the approximations.     

On Kirchhoff's Model of Parabolic Type

In this article, the existence of a global strong solution for all finite time is derived for the Kirchhoff's model of parabolic type. Based on exponential weight function, some new regularity results which reflect the exponential decay property are obtained for the exact solution. For the related dynamics, the existence of a global attractor is shown to hold for the problem when the non-homogeneous forcing function is either independent of time or in L^∞(L²). With the finite element Galerkin method applied in spatial direction keeping time variable continuous, a semidiscrete scheme is analyzed, and it is also established that the semidiscrete system has a global discrete attractor. Optimal error estimates in L^∞(H¹) norm are derived which are valid uniformly in time. Further, based on a backward Euler method, a completely discrete scheme is analyzed and error estimates are derived. It is also further, observed that in cases where f = 0 or f = O(e^?γ₀t) with γ₀ > 0, the discrete solutions and error estimates decay exponentially in time. Finally, some numerical experiments are discussed which confirm our theoretical findings.     

and Norms Error Estimates in Finite Element Method for Linear Parabolic Interface Problems

We derive new a priori error estimates for linear parabolic equations with discontinuous coefficients. Due to low global regularity of the solutions the error analysis of the standard finite element method for parabolic problems is difficult to adopt for parabolic interface problems. A finite element procedure is, therefore, proposed and analyzed in this paper. We are able to show that the standard energy technique of finite element method for non-interface parabolic problems can be extended to parabolic interface problems if we allow interface triangles to be curved triangles. Optimal pointwise-in-time error estimates in the L ²(Ω) and H ¹(Ω) norms are shown to hold for the semidiscrete scheme. A fully discrete scheme based on backward Euler method is analyzed and pointwise-in-time error estimates are derived. The interfaces are assumed to be arbitrary shape but smooth for our purpose.     

Variational formulation for the stationary fractional advection dispersion equation

In this article a theoretical framework for the Galerkin finite element approximation to the steady state fractional advection dispersion equation is presented. Appropriate fractional derivative spaces are defined and shown to be equivalent to the usual fractional dimension Sobolev spaces H^s. Existence and uniqueness results are proven, and error estimates for the Galerkin approximation derived. Numerical results are included that confirm the theoretical estimates. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2005     

Error estimates for mixed finite element methods for nonlinear parabolic problems

We consider a class of mixed finite element methods for nonlinear parabolic problems over a plane domain. The finite element spaces taken are Raviart-Thomas spaces of index k, k ? 0. We obtain optimal order L²- and almost optimal order L^∞-error estimates for the finite element solution and order optimal L²-error estimates for its gradient. We also derive the error estimates for the time derivatives of the solution. Our results extend those previously obtained by Johnson and Thomée for the corresponding linear problems with k ? 1.     

Error estimates for finite volume element methods for general second‐order elliptic problems

We treat the finite volume element method (FVE) for solving general second order elliptic problems as a perturbation of the linear finite element method (FEM), and obtain the optimal H¹ error estimate, H¹ superconvergence and L^p (1 < p ≤ ∞) error estimates between the solution of the FVE and that of the FEM. In particular, the superconvergence result does not require any extra assumptions on the mesh except quasi‐uniform. Thus the error estimates of the FVE can be derived by the standard error estimates of the FEM. Moreover we consider the effects of numerical integration and prove that the use of barycenter quadrature rule does not decrease the convergence orders of the FVE. The results of this article reveal that the FVE is in close relationship with the FEM. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 19: 693–708, 2003.     

A posteriori error estimates for finite element approximations to the wave equation with discontinuous coefficients

We derive residual‐based a posteriori error estimates of finite element method for linear wave equation with discontinuous coefficients in a two‐dimensional convex polygonal domain. A posteriori error estimates for both the space‐discrete case and for implicit fully discrete scheme are discussed in L^∞(L²) norm. The main ingredients used in deriving a posteriori estimates are new Clément type interpolation estimates in conjunction with appropriate adaption of the elliptic reconstruction technique of continuous and discrete solutions. We use only an energy argument to establish a posteriori error estimates with optimal order convergence in the L^∞(L²) norm.     

On Solvable R* Groups of Finite Rank

Abstract

For an element a of a group G,let S(a) denote the semigroup generated by all conjugates of a in G. We prove that if G is solvable of finite rank and 1 ? S(a) for all 1 ≠ a ∈ G,then ?a ^G ?/?b ^G ? is a periodic group for every b ∈ S(a). Conversely if every two generator subgroup of a finitely generated torsion-free solvable group G has this property then G has finite rank,and if every finitely generated subgroup has this property then every partial order on G can be extended to a total order.     

An Alternate Approach to Optimal L 2-Error Analysis of Semidiscrete Galerkin Methods for Linear Parabolic Problems with Nonsmooth Initial Data

In this article, we propose and analyze an alternate proof of a priori error estimates for semidiscrete Galerkin approximations to a general second order linear parabolic initial and boundary value problem with rough initial data. Our analysis is based on energy arguments without using parabolic duality. Further, it follows the spirit of the proof technique used for deriving optimal error estimates for finite element approximations to parabolic problems with smooth initial data and hence, it unifies both theories, that is, one for smooth initial data and other for nonsmooth data. Moreover, the proposed technique is also extended to a semidiscrete mixed method for linear parabolic problems. In both cases, optimal L ²-error estimates are derived, when the initial data is in L ². A superconvergence phenomenon is also observed, which is then used to prove L ^∞-estimates for linear parabolic problems defined on two-dimensional spatial domain again with rough initial data.     

Improving the Rate of Convergence of High-Order Finite Elements on Polyhedra I: A Priori Estimates

ABSTRACT

Let 𝒯 _k be a sequence of triangulations of a polyhedron Ω ? ? ⁿ and let S _k be the associated finite element space of continuous, piecewise polynomials of degree m. Let u _k  ∈ S _k be the finite element approximation of the solution u of a second-order, strongly elliptic system Pu = f with zero Dirichlet boundary conditions. We show that a weak approximation property of the sequence S _k ensures optimal rates of convergence for the sequence u _k . The method relies on certain a priori estimates in weighted Sobolev spaces for the system Pu = 0 that we establish. The weight is the distance to the set of singular boundary points. We obtain similar results for the Poisson problem with mixed Dirichlet–Neumann boundary conditions on a polygon.     

On the solution of Maxwell's equations in polygonal domains

This paper is concerned with the structure of the singular and regular parts of the solution of time‐harmonic Maxwell's equations in polygonal plane domains and their effective numerical treatment. The asymptotic behaviour of the solution near corner points of the domain is studied by means of discrete Fourier transformation and it is proved that the solution of the boundary value problem does not belong locally to H² when the boundary of the domain has non‐acute angles. A splitting of the solution into a regular part belonging to the space H², and an explicitly described singular part is presented. For the numerical treatment of the boundary value problem, we propose a finite element discretization which combines local mesh grading and the singular field methods and derive a priori error estimates that show optimal convergence as known for the classical finite element method for problems with regular solutions. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the Convergence of Finite Element Method for Second Order Elliptic Interface Problems

The purpose of this paper is to study the convergence of finite element approximation to the exact solution of general self-adjoint elliptic equations with discontinuous coefficients. Due to low global regularity of the solution, it is difficult to achieve optimal order of convergence with classical finite element methods [Numer. Math. 1998; 79:175–202]. In this paper, an isoparametric type of discretization is used to prove optimal order error estimates in L ² and H ¹ norms when the global regularity of the solution is low. The interface is assumed to be of arbitrary shape and is smooth for our purpose. Further, for the purpose of numerical computations, we discuss the effect of numerical quadrature on finite element solution, and the related optimal order estimates are also established.     

Error estimates for finite element approximations of nonlinear monotone elliptic problems with application to numerical homogenization

We consider a finite element method (FEM) with arbitrary polynomial degree for nonlinear monotone elliptic problems. Using a linear elliptic projection, we first give a new short proof of the optimal convergence rate of the FEM in the L² norm. We then derive optimal a priori error estimates in the H¹ and L² norm for a FEM with variational crimes due to numerical integration. As an application, we derive a priori error estimates for a numerical homogenization method applied to nonlinear monotone elliptic problems. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 32: 955–969, 2016     

Analysis of a combined mixed finite element and discontinuous Galerkin method for incompressible two‐phase flow in porous media

We analyze a combined method consisting of the mixed finite element method for pressure equation and the discontinuous Galerkin method for saturation equation for the coupled system of incompressible two‐phase flow in porous media. The existence and uniqueness of numerical solutions are established under proper conditions by using a constructive approach. Optimal error estimates in L²(H¹) for saturation and in L ^∞ (H(div)) for velocity are derived. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Analysis and convergence of finite volume method using discontinuous bilinear functions

We develop finite volume method using discontinuous bilinear functions on rectangular mesh. This method is analyzed for the Stokes equations. An optimal error estimate for the approximation of velocity is obtained in a mesh‐dependent norm. First order L²‐error estimates are derived for the approximations of both velocity and pressure. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2007     

The Stability in W s,p (Γ) Spaces of L 2-Projections on Some Convex Sets

ABSTRACT

For a polygonal open bounded subset of ?², of boundary Γ, we study stability estimates for the projection operator from L ¹(Γ) on a convex set K _h of continuous piecewise affine functions satisfying bound constraints. We establish stability estimates in L ^p (Γ) and in W ^s,p (Γ) for 1 ≤ p ≤ ∞ and 0 < s ≤ 1. This kind of result plays a crucial role in error estimates for the numerical approximation of optimal control problems of partial differential equations with bilateral control constraints.