Superconvergence of H 1-Galerkin Mixed Finite Element Methods for Second-Order Elliptic Equations

We derive superconvergence result for H ¹-Galerkin mixed finite element method for second-order elliptic equations over rectangular partitions. Compared to standard mixed finite element procedure, the method is not subject to the Ladyzhenskaya–Bab?ska–Brezzi (LBB) condition and the approximating finite element spaces are allowed to be of different polynomial degrees. Superconvergence estimate of order 𝒪(h ^k+3), where k ≥ 1 is the order of the approximating polynomials employed in the Raviart–Thomas elements, is established for the flux via a postprocessing technique.