Symmetric coupling of boundary elements and Raviart–Thomas-type mixed finite elements in elastostatics

Summary. Both mixed finite element methods and boundary integral methods are important tools in computational mechanics according to a good stress approximation. Recently, even low order mixed methods of Raviart–Thomas-type became available for problems in elasticity. Since either methods are robust for critical Poisson ratios, it appears natural to couple the two methods as proposed in this paper. The symmetric coupling changes the elliptic part of the bilinear form only. Hence the convergence analysis of mixed finite element methods is applicable to the coupled problem as well. Specifically, we couple boundary elements with a family of mixed elements analyzed by Stenberg. The locking-free implementation is performed via Lagrange multipliers, numerical examples are included. Received February 21, 1995 / Revised version received December 21, 1995     

A note on least-squares mixed finite elements in relation to standard and mixed finite elements

^** Email: brandts{at}science.uva.nl The least-squares mixed finite-element method for second-orderelliptic problems yields an approximation u_h V_h H₀¹() of thepotential u together with an approximation p_{h h} H(div ; )of the vector field p = – Au. Comparing u_h with the standardfinite-element approximation of u in V_h, and p_h with the mixedfinite-element approximation of p, it turns out that they arehigher-order perturbations of each other. In other words, theyare ‘superclose’. Refined a priori bounds and superconvergenceresults can now be proved. Also, the local mass conservationerror is of higher order than could be concluded from the standarda priori analysis.     

Superconvergence for rectangular mixed finite elements

Summary In this paper we prove superconvergence error estimates for the vector variable for mixed finite element approximations of second order elliptic problems. For the rectangular finite elements of Raviart and Thomas [19] and for those of Brezzi et al. [4] we prove that the distance inL ² between the approximate solution and a projection of the exact one is of higher order than the error itself.This result is exploited to obtain superconvergence at Gaussian points and to construct higher order approximations by a local postprocessing.     

On the symmetric boundary element method and the symmetric coupling of boundary elements and finite elements

The finite element method and the boundary element method areamong the most frequently applied tools in the numerical treatmentof partial differential equations. However, their propertiesappear to be complementary: while the boundary element methodis appropriate for the most important linear partial differentialequations with constant coefficients in bounded or unboundeddomains, the finite element method seems to be more appropriatefor inhomogeneous or even nonlinear problems. but is somehowrestricted to bounded domains. The symmetric coupling of thetwo methods inherits the advantages of both methods. This paper treats the symmetric coupling of finite elementsand boundary elements for a model transmission problem in twoand three dimensions where we have two domains: a bounded domainwith nonlinear, even plastic material behaviour, is surroundedby an unbounded, exterior, domain with isotropic homogeneouslinear elastic material. Practically. the coupling is performedsuch that the boundary element method contributes a macro-element,like a large finite element, within a standard finite elementanalysis program. Emphasis is on two-dimensional problems wherethe approach using the Poincaré-Steklov operator seemsto be impossible at first glance. E-mail: cc{at}numerik.uni-kiel.de     

Primal-dual variational problems by boundary and finite elements

In this paper the primal-dual (or mixed) formulation is studied for self-adjoint elliptic problems coupled with a boundary integral equation. It is shown that, after introducing a suitable complementary variational principle, the problem is reduced to finding a stationarity point of a constrained functional. Some numerical examples are reported for a second-order differential equation on unbounded domains.     

The coupling method of finite elements and boundary elements for radiation problem

The paper presents the variational formulation and well posedness of the coupling method of finite elements and boundary elements for radiation problem. The convergence and optimal error estimate for the approximate solution and numerical experiment are provided.This research was supported in part by the Institute for Mathematics and its applications with funds provided by NSF, USA.     

Composite mixed finite elements on plane quadrilaterals

Mixed finite elements over a plane convex quadrilateral are obtained by assembling two Raviart-Thomas mixed finite elements over triangles. The macroelement is given by an eliminating procedure of the degrees of freedom related to the common edge to the two triangles. This procedure results in a finite element with a space of interpolating functions containing the polynomials of degree ? l, where l is the greater integer for which the same property is satisfied by the relevant Raviart-Thomas [Mathematical Aspects of Finite Element Methods, Roma 1975, I. Galligani and E. Magenes, Eds., Lecture Notes in Mathematics Vol. 606, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1975] mixed finite element. The interpolation error is estimated by means of the technique of almost equivalent affine element as given by Ciavaldini and Nédélec [Rev. Fr. Autom. Inf. Recher. Opérationnelle Ser. Rouge R2 , 29–45 (1974)]. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Numerical approximation of the boundary control for the wave equation with mixed finite elements in a square

Sorin Micu ^{This paper studies the numerical approximation of the boundarycontrol for the wave equation in a square domain. It is knownthat the discrete and semi-discrete models obtained by discretizingthe wave equation with the usual finite-difference or finite-elementmethods do not provide convergent sequences of approximationsto the boundary control of the continuous wave equation as themesh size goes to zero. Here, we introduce and analyse a newsemi-discrete model based on the space discretization of thewave equation using a mixed finite-element method with two differentbasis functions for the position and velocity. The main theoreticalresult is a uniform observability inequality which allows usto construct a sequence of approximations converging to theminimal L2-norm control of the continuous wave equation. Wealso introduce a fully discrete system, obtained from our semi-discretescheme, for which we conjecture that it provides a convergentsequence of discrete approximations as both h and t, the timediscretization parameter, go to zero. We illustrate this factwith several numerical experiments.}     

Implicit residual error estimators for the coupling of finite elements and boundary elements

We consider a symmetric Galerkin method for the coupling of finite elements and boundary elements for elliptic problems with a monotone operator in the finite element domain. We derive an a posteriori error estimator which involves the solution of equilibrated local Neumann problems in the finite element domain and requires computation of a residual term on the coupling interface. Finally, we discuss a similar approach for a coupling with Signorini contact conditions on the interface. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Coupling nonlinear Stokes and Darcy flow using mortar finite elements

We study a system composed of a nonlinear Stokes flow in one subdomain coupled with a nonlinear porous medium flow in another subdomain. Special attention is paid to the mathematical consequence of the shear-dependent fluid viscosity for the Stokes flow and the velocity-dependent effective viscosity for the Darcy flow. Motivated by the physical setting, we consider the case where only flow rates are specified on the inflow and outflow boundaries in both subdomains. We recast the coupled Stokes–Darcy system as a reduced matching problem on the interface using a mortar space approach. We prove a number of properties of the nonlinear interface operator associated with the reduced problem, which directly yield the existence, uniqueness and regularity of a variational solution to the system. We further propose and analyze a numerical algorithm based on mortar finite elements for the interface problem and conforming finite elements for the subdomain problems. Optimal a priori error estimates are established for the interface and subdomain problems, and a number of compatibility conditions for the finite element spaces used are discussed. Numerical simulations are presented to illustrate the algorithm and to compare two treatments of the defective boundary conditions.     

Nonconforming elements in least-squares mixed finite element methods

In this paper we analyze the finite element discretization for the first-order system least squares mixed model for the second-order elliptic problem by means of using nonconforming and conforming elements to approximate displacement and stress, respectively. Moreover, on arbitrary regular quadrilaterals, we propose new variants of both the rotated nonconforming element and the lowest-order Raviart-Thomas element.

     

Error analysis of mixed finite elements for cylindrical shells

In this paper, based on the Naghdi shell model, we analyze the uniform convergence of mixed finite element methods for cylindrical shell problems using macroelement techniques. We show that Taylor–Hood elements p ₂-P ₁ and P ₁ iso P ₂ are locking free elements for the model problems. Optimal error estimates are presented with these elements. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A family of mixed finite elements for linear elasticity

Summary A family of finite elements for use in mixed formulations of linear elasticity is developed. The stresses are not required to be symmetric, but only to satisfy a weaker condition based upon Lagrange multipliers. This is based on the same formulation used in the PEERS finite element spaces. Elements for both two and three dimensional problems are given. Error analysis on these elements is done, and some superconvergence results are proved.     

New mixed finite elements for plane elasticity and Stokes equations

We consider mixed finite elements for the plane elasticity system and the Stokes equation. For the unmodified Hellinger-Reissner formulation of elasticity in which the stress and displacement fields are the primary unknowns, we derive two new nonconforming mixed finite elements of triangle type. Both elements use piecewise rigid motions to approximate the displacement and piecewise polynomial functions to approximate the stress, where no vertex degrees of freedom are involved. The two stress finite element ...     

Multilevel methods for mixed finite elements in three dimensions

In this paper we consider second order scalar elliptic boundary value problems posed over three–dimensional domains and their discretization by means of mixed Raviart–Thomas finite elements [18]. This leads to saddle point problems featuring a discrete flux vector field as additional unknown. Following Ewing and Wang [26], the proposed solution procedure is based on splitting the flux into divergence free components and a remainder. It leads to a variational problem involving solenoidal Raviart–Thomas vector fields. A fast iterative solution method for this problem is presented. It exploits the representation of divergence free vector fields as s of the –conforming finite element functions introduced by Nédélec [43]. We show that a nodal multilevel splitting of these finite element spaces gives rise to an optimal preconditioner for the solenoidal variational problem: Duality techniques in quotient spaces and modern algebraic multigrid theory [50, 10, 31] are the main tools for the proof. Received November 4, 1996 / Revised version received February 2, 1998     

A new family of mixed finite elements in ℝ3

Summary We introduce two families of mixed finite element on conforming inH(div) and one conforming inH(curl). These finite elements can be used to approximate the Stokes' system.     

A family of mixed finite elements for the elasticity problem

Summary A new mixed finite element formulation for the equations of linear elasticity is considered. In the formulation the variables approximated are the displacement, the unsymmetric stress tensor and the rotation. The rotation act as a Lagrange multiplier introduced in order to enforce the symmetry of the stress tensor. Based on this formulation a new family of both two-and three-dimensional mixed methods is defined. Optimal error estimates, which are valid uniformly with respect to the Poisson ratio, are derived. Finally, a new postprocessing scheme for improving the displacement is introduced and analyzed.     

Superconvergence and a posteriori error estimation for triangular mixed finite elements

Summary. In this paper,we prove superconvergence results for the vector variable when lowest order triangular mixed finite elements of Raviart-Thomas type [17] on uniform triangulations are used, i.e., that the -distance between the approximate solution and a suitable projection of the real solution is of higher order than the -error. We prove results for both Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions. Recently, Duran [9] proved similar results for rectangular mixed finite elements, and superconvergence along the Gauss-lines for rectangular mixed finite elements was considered by Douglas, Ewing, Lazarov and Wang in [11], [8] and [18]. The triangular case however needs some extra effort. Using the superconvergence results, a simple postprocessing of the approximate solution will give an asymptotically exact a posteriori error estimator for the -error in the approximation of the vector variable. Received December 6, 1992 / Revised version received October 2, 1993     

Hybrid stress analysis of boundary and finite elements by a super-element method

This paper is concerned with the hybrid method of boundary element and finite element techniques by means of an “external-super-element” function of the commercial finite element method code . The proposed super-element method preserves the modelling simplicity of the boundary element method and the generality of . Two- and three-dimensional elastostatic analyses are performed to demonstrate the accuracy of this method as well as its applicability to practical problems.