Superconvergence and extrapolation of non-conforming low order finite elements applied to the Poisson equation

It is well-known that on uniform meshes the piecewise linearconforming finite element solution of the Poisson equation approximatesthe interpolant to a higher order than the solution itself.In this paper, this type of superclose property is studied forthe canonical interpolant defined by the nodal functionals ofseveral non-conforming finite elements of lowest order. By givingexplicit examples we show that some non-conforming finite elementsdo not admit the superclose property. In particular, we discusstwo non-conforming finite elements which satisfy the supercloseproperty. Moreover, applying a postprocessing technique, wecan also state a superconvergence property for the discretizationerror of the postprocessed discrete solution to the solutionitself. Finally, we show that an extrapolation technique leadsto a further improvement of the accuracy of the finite elementsolution.