Singular solutions of the Poisson equation at edges of three‐dimensional domains and their treatment with a predictor–corrector finite element method

Solutions of boundary value problems in three‐dimensional domains with edges may exhibit singularities which are known to influence both the accuracy of the finite element solutions and the rate of convergence in the error estimates. This paper considers boundary value problems for the Poisson equation on typical domains Ω ? ?³ with edge singularities and presents, on the one hand, explicit computational formulas for the flux intensity functions. On the other hand, it proposes and analyzes a nonconforming finite element method on regular meshes for the efficient treatment of the singularities. The novelty of the present method is the use of the explicit formulas for the flux intensity functions in defining a postprocessing procedure in the finite element approximation of the solution. A priori error estimates in H¹(Ω) show that the present algorithm exhibits the same rate of convergence as it is known for problems with regular solutions.     

A layer adaptive B‐spline collocation method for singularly perturbed one‐dimensional parabolic problem with a boundary turning point

In this article, we develop a parameter uniform numerical method for a class of singularly perturbed parabolic equations with a multiple boundary turning point on a rectangular domain. The coefficient of the first derivative with respect to x is given by the formula a₀(x, t)x^p, where a₀(x, t) ≥ α > 0 and the parameter p ∈ [1,∞) takes the arbitrary value. For small values of the parameter ε, the solution of this particular class of problem exhibits the parabolic boundary layer in a neighborhood of the boundary x = 0 of the domain. We use the implicit Euler method to discretize the temporal variable on uniform mesh and a B‐spline collocation method defined on piecewise uniform Shishkin mesh to discretize the spatial variable. Asymptotic bounds for the derivatives of the solution are established by decomposing the solution into smooth and singular component. These bounds are applied in the convergence analysis of the proposed scheme on Shishkin mesh. The resulting method is boundary layer resolving and has been shown almost second‐order accurate in space and first‐order accurate in time. It is also shown that the proposed method is uniformly convergent with respect to the singular perturbation parameter ε. Some numerical results are given to confirm the predicted theory and comparison of numerical results made with a scheme consisting of a standard upwind finite difference operator on a piecewise uniform Shishkin mesh. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 27: 1143–1164, 2011     

A note on a finite element method dealing with corner singularities

Recently the first author and his coworker report a new finite element method for the Poisson equations with homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions on a polygonal domain with one re-entrant angle [7]. They use the well-known fact that the solution of such problem has a singular representation, deduce a well-posed new variational problem for regular part of solution and an extraction formula for the so-called stress intensity factor using two cut-off functions. They use Fredholm alternative and G?rding’s inequality to establish the well-posedness of the variational problem and finite element approximation, so there is a maximum bound for meshh theoretically, although the numerical experiments shows the convergence for every reasonable size ofh. In this paper we show that the method converges for everyh with reasonable size by imposing a restriction to the support of the extra cut-off function without using G?rding’s inequality. We also give error analysis with similar results.     

Regularity and a priori error analysis of a Ventcel problem in polyhedral domains

We consider the regularity of a mixed boundary value problem for the Laplace operator on a polyhedral domain, where Ventcel boundary conditions are imposed on one face of the polyhedron and Dirichlet boundary conditions are imposed on the complement of that face in the boundary. We establish improved regularity estimates for the trace of the variational solution on the Ventcel face and use them to derive a decomposition of the solution into a regular and a singular part that belongs to suitable weighted Sobolev spaces. This decomposition, in turn, via interpolation estimates both in the interior as well as on the Ventcel face, allows us to perform an a priori error analysis for the finite element approximation of the solution on anisotropic graded meshes. Numerical tests support the theoretical analysis. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Error analysis of the DtN-FEM for the scattering problem in acoustics via Fourier analysis

In this paper, we are concerned with the error analysis for the finite element solution of the two-dimensional exterior Neumann boundary value problem in acoustics. In particular, we establish explicit priori error estimates in H¹ and L²- norms including both the effect of the truncation of the DtN mapping and that of the numerical discretization. To apply the finite element method (FEM) to the exterior problem, the original boundary value problem is reduced to an equivalent nonlocal boundary value problem via a Dirichlet-to-Neumann (DtN) mapping represented in terms of the Fourier expansion series. We discuss essential features of the corresponding variational equation and its modification due to the truncation of the DtN mapping in appropriate function spaces. Numerical tests are presented to validate our theoretical results.     

Superconvergence of the direct discontinuous Galerkin method for a time‐fractional initial‐boundary value problem

A time‐fractional reaction–diffusion initial‐boundary value problem with periodic boundary condition is considered on Q ? Ω × [0, T] , where Ω is the interval [0, l] . Typical solutions of such problem have a weak singularity at the initial time t = 0. The numerical method of the paper uses a direct discontinuous Galerkin (DDG) finite element method in space on a uniform mesh, with piecewise polynomials of degree k ≥ 2 . In the temporal direction we use the L1 approximation of the Caputo derivative on a suitably graded mesh. We prove that at each time level of the mesh, our L1‐DDG solution is superconvergent of order k + 2 in L²(Ω) to a particular projection of the exact solution. Moreover, the L1‐DDG solution achieves superconvergence of order (k + 2) in a discrete L²(Q) norm computed at the Lobatto points, and order (k + 1) superconvergence in a discrete H¹(Q) seminorm at the Gauss points; numerical results show that these estimates are sharp.     

Error analysis of a weighted least-squares finite element method for 2-D incompressible flows in velocity–stress–pressure formulation

In this paper we are concerned with a weighted least-squares finite element method for approximating the solution of boundary value problems for 2-D viscous incompressible flows. We consider the generalized Stokes equations with velocity boundary conditions. Introducing the auxiliary variables (stresses) of the velocity gradients and combining the divergence free condition with some compatibility conditions, we can recast the original second-order problem as a Petrovski-type first-order elliptic system (called velocity–stress–pressure formulation) in six equations and six unknowns together with Riemann–Hilbert-type boundary conditions. A weighted least-squares finite element method is proposed for solving this extended first-order problem. The finite element approximations are defined to be the minimizers of a weighted least-squares functional over the finite element subspaces of the H¹ product space. With many advantageous features, the analysis also shows that, under suitable assumptions, the method achieves optimal order of convergence both in the L²-norm and in the H¹-norm. © 1998 B. G. Teubner Stuttgart—John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A priori error analysis of the mortar finite element method for variational inequalities

The mortar finite element method is a special domain decomposition method, which can handle the situation where meshes on different subdomains need not align across the interface. In this article, we will apply the mortar element method to general variational inequalities of free boundary type, such as free seepage flow, which may show different behaviors in different regions. We prove that if the solution of the original variational inequality belongs to H²(D), then the mortar element solution can achieve the same order error estimate as the conforming P₁ finite element solution. Application of the mortar element method to a free surface seepage problem and an obstacle problem verifies not only its convergence property but also its great computational efficiency. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2008     

Superconvergence of Solution Derivatives of the Shortley–Weller Difference Approximation to Elliptic Equations with Singularities Involving the Mixed Type of Boundary Conditions

This paper presents a superconvergence analysis for the Shortley–Weller finite difference approximation of second-order self-adjoint elliptic equations with unbounded derivatives on a polygonal domain with the mixed type of boundary conditions. In this analysis, we first formulate the method as a special finite element/volume method. We then analyze the convergence of the method in a finite element framework. An O(h ^1.5)-order superconvergence of the solution derivatives in a discrete H ¹ norm is obtained. Finally, numerical experiments are provided to support the theoretical convergence rate obtained.     

Finite volume element method for monotone nonlinear elliptic problems

In this article, we consider the finite volume element method for the monotone nonlinear second‐order elliptic boundary value problems. With the assumptions which guarantee that the corresponding operator is strongly monotone and Lipschitz‐continuous, and with the minimal regularity assumption on the exact solution, that is, u∈H¹(Ω), we show that the finite volume element method has a unique solution, and the finite volume element approximation is uniformly convergent with respect to the H¹ ‐norm. If u∈H^1+ε(Ω),0 < ε ≤ 1, we develop the optimal convergence rate \begin{align*}\mathcal{O}(h^{\epsilon})\end{align*} in the H¹ ‐norm. Moreover, we propose a natural and computationally easy residual‐based H¹ ‐norm a posteriori error estimator and establish the global upper bound and local lower bounds on the error. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2013     

A Priori Error Estimates of Crank–Nicolson Finite Volume Element Method for a Hyperbolic Optimal Control Problem

In this article, a Crank–Nicolson linear finite volume element scheme is developed to solve a hyperbolic optimal control problem. We use the variational discretization technique for the approximation of the control variable. The optimal convergent order O(h² + k²) is proved for the numerical solution of the control, state and adjoint‐state in a discrete L²‐norm. To derive this result, we also get the error estimate (convergent order O(h² + k²)) of Crank–Nicolson finite volume element approximation for the second‐order hyperbolic initial boundary value problem. Numerical experiments are presented to verify the theoretical results.© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 32: 1331–1356, 2016     

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     

Error estimates for the finite element approximation to a maxwell-type boundary value problem

Maxwell's boundary value problem for the time-harmonic case in a smooth, bounded domain G of R ² is considered. The optimal asymptotic L₂(G) and H₁(G)-error estimates 0(h²) and 0(h) resp, are derived for a piecewise linear finite element solution.     

Variational Problems in Domains with Cusp-Points and the Finite Element Method

A variational problem in a two-dimensional domain with cusp-points corresponding to a linear elliptic boundary value problem is formulated and the unique existence of its solution is proved. The corresponding finite element method using triangular finite C ⁰-elements with polynomials of the first degree is analyzed and both the convergence (under the assumptions sufficient for the existence of the exact solution) and the maximal rate of convergence 𝒪(h) are proved.     

A nonconforming combined method for solving Laplace's boundary value problems with singularities

Summary For solving Laplace's boundary value problems with singularities, a nonconforming combined approach of the Ritz-Galerkin method and the finite element method is presented. In this approach, singular functions are chosen to be admissible functions in the part of a solution domain where there exist singularities; and piecewise linear functions are chosen to be admissible functions in the rest of the solution domain. In addition, the admissible functions used here are constrained to be continuous only at the element nodes on the common boundary of both methods. This method is nonconforming; however, the nonconforming effect does not result in larger errors of numerical solutions as long as a suitable coupling strategy is used.In this paper, we will develop such an approach by using a new coupling strategy, which is described as follows: IfL+1=O(|lnh|), the average errors of numerical solutions and their generalized derivatives are stillO(h), whereh is the maximal boundary length of quasiuniform triangular elements in the finite element method, andL+1 is the total number of singular admissible functions in the Ritz-Galerkin method. The coupling relation,L+1=O(|lnh|), is significant because only a few singular functions are required for a good approximation of solutions.This material is from Chapter 5 in my Ph.D. thesis: Numerical Methods for Elliptic Boundary Value Problems with Singularities. Part I: Boundary Methods for Solving Elliptic Problems with Singularities. Part II: Nonconforming Combinations for Solving Elliptic Problems with Singularities, the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, University of Toronto, May 1986     

Local and parallel finite element method for solving the biharmonic eigenvalue problem of plate vibration

In this paper, we establish a new local and parallel finite element discrete scheme based on the shifted‐inverse power method for solving the biharmonic eigenvalue problem of plate vibration. We prove the local error estimation of finite element solution for the biharmonic equation/eigenvalue problem and prove the error estimation of approximate solution obtained by the local and parallel scheme. When the diameters of three grids satisfy H⁴ = ?(w²) = ?(h), the approximate solutions obtained by our schemes can achieve the asymptotically optimal accuracy. The numerical experiments show that the computational schemes proposed in this paper are effective to solve the biharmonic eigenvalue problem of plate vibration.     

The hp finite element method for singularly perturbed problems in nonsmooth domains

We consider the numerical approximation of singularly perturbed elliptic boundary value problems over nonsmooth domains. We use a decomposition of the solution that contains a smooth part, a corner layer part and a boundary layer part. Explicit guidelines for choosing mesh‐degree combinations are given that yield finite element spaces with robust approximation properties. In particular, we construct an hp finite element space that approximates all components uniformly, at a near exponential rate. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 15: 63–89, 1999     

On approximation in the fictitious domain method for a bidimensional transport equation

In this article a numerical method for solving a two‐dimensional transport equation in the stationary case is presented. Using the techniques of the variational calculus, we find the approximate solution for a homogeneous boundary‐value problem that corresponds to a square domain D₂. Then, using the method of the fictitious domain, we extend our algorithm to a boundary value problem for a set D that has an arbitrary shape. In this approach, the initial computation domain D (called physical domain) is immersed in a square domain D₂. We prove that the solution obtained by this method is a good approximation of the exact solution. The theoretical results are verified with the help of a numerical example. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 2010     

On the integral equation method for the plane mixed boundary value problem of the Laplacian

Although the plane boundary value problem for the Laplacian with given Dirichlet data on one part Γ₂ and given Neumann data on the remaining part Γ₂ of the boundary is the simplest case of mixed boundary value problems, we present several applications in classical mathematical physics. Using Green's formula the problem is converted into a system of Fredholm integral equations for the yet unknown values of the solution u on Γ₂ and the also desired values of the normal derivatie on Γ₁. One of these equations has principal part of the second kind, whereas that one of the other is of the first kind. Since any improvement of constructive methods requires higher regularity of u but, on the other hand, grad u possesses singularities at the collision points Γ₁ ∩ Γ₂ even for C^∞ data, u is decomposed into special singular terms and a regular rest. This is incorporated into the integral equations and the modified system is solved in appropriate Sobolev spaces. The solution of the system requires to solve a Fredholm equation of the first kind on the arc Γ₂ providing an improvement of regularity for the smooth part of u. Since the integral equations form a strongly elliptic system of pseudodifferential operators, the Galerkin procedure converges. Using regular finite element functions on Γ₁ and Γ₂ augmented by the special singular functions we obtain optimal order of asymptotic convergence in the norm corresponding to the energy norm of u and also superconvergence as well as high orders in smoother norms if the given data are smooth (and not the solution).     

Finite element approximations to one‐phase nonlinear free boundary problem in groundwater contamination flow

In this article, we consider a single‐phase coupled nonlinear Stefan problem of the water‐head and concentration equations with nonlinear source and permeance terms and a Dirichlet boundary condition depending on the free‐boundary function. The problem is very important in subsurface contaminant transport and remediation, seawater intrusion and control, and many other applications. While a Landau type transformation is introduced to immobilize the free boundary, a transformation for the water‐head and concentration functions is defined to deal with the nonhomogeneous Dirichlet boundary condition, which depends on the free boundary function. An H¹‐finite element method for the problem is then proposed and analyzed. The existence of the approximation solution is established, and error estimates are obtained for both the semi‐discrete schemes and the fully discrete schemes. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2006