An error bound for the finite element approximation of the Cahn-Hilliard equation with logarithmic free energy

Summary. An error bound is proved for a fully practical piecewise linear finite element approximation, using a backward Euler time discretization, of the Cahn-Hilliard equation with a logarithmic free energy. Received October 12, 1994     

Numerical solution of one-dimensional Burgers’ equation using reproducing kernel function

This paper presents a numerical method for one-dimensional Burgers’ equation by the Hopf–Cole transformation and a reproducing kernel function, abbreviated as RKF. The numerical solution is given as explicit integral expressions with the RKF at each time step, so that the computation is fully parallel. The stability and error estimates are derived. Numerical results for some test problems are presented and compared with the exact solutions. Some numerical results are also compared with the results obtained by other methods. The present method is easily implemented and effective.     

Numerical approximation of the Cahn-Larché equation

Summary Spinodal decomposition, i.e., the separation of a homogeneous mixture into different phases, can be modeled by the Cahn-Hilliard equation - a fourth order semilinear parabolic equation. If elastic stresses due to a lattice misfit become important, the Cahn-Hilliard equation has to be coupled to an elasticity system to take this into account. Here, we present a discretization based on finite elements and an implicit Euler scheme. We first show solvability and uniqueness of solutions. Based on an energy decay property we then prove convergence of the scheme. Finally we present numerical experiments showing the impact of elasticity on the morphology of the microstructure.Research supported by DFG Priority Program Analysis, Modeling and Simulation of Multiscale Problems under AR234/5-2 and GA695/2-2     

Superconvergence of the continuous Galerkin finite element method for delay-differential equation with several terms

The continuous Galerkin finite element method for linear delay-differential equation with several terms is studied. Adding some lower terms in the remainder of orthogonal expansion in an element so that the remainder satisfies more orthogonal condition in the element, and obtain a desired superclose function to finite element solution, thus the superconvergence of p  -degree finite element approximate solution on (p+1)$(p+1)$-order Lobatto points is derived.     

Convergence of FEM with interpolated coefficients for semilinear hyperbolic equation

To solve spatially semidiscrete approximative solution of a class of semilinear hyperbolic equations, the finite element method (FEM) with interpolated coefficients is discussed. By use of semidiscrete finite element for linear problem as comparative function, the error estimate in L^∞$L^{\infty }$-norm is derived by the nonlinear argument in Chen [Structure theory of superconvergence of finite elements, Hunan Press of Science and Technology, Changsha, 2001 (in Chinese)]. This indicates that convergence of FEMs with interpolated coefficients for a semilinear equation is similar to that of classical FEMs.     

Numerical solution of the acoustic wave equation using Raviart–Thomas elements

In this paper we discuss the numerical approximation of the displacement form of the acoustic wave equation using mixed finite elements. The mixed formulation allows for approximation of both displacement and pressure at each time step, without the need for post-processing. Lowest-order and next-to-lowest-order Raviart–Thomas elements are used for the spatial discretization, and centered finite differences are used to advance in time. Use of these Raviart–Thomas elements results in a diagonal mass matrix for resolution of pressure, and a mass matrix for the displacement variable that is sparse with a simple structure. Convergence results for a model problem are provided, as are numerical results for a two-dimensional problem with a point source.     

Convergence of an upstream finite volume scheme for a nonlinear hyperbolic equation on a triangular mesh

Summary We study here the discretisation of the nonlinear hyperbolic equationu _t +div(vf(u))=0 in ³ × ₊, with given initial conditionu(.,0)=u ₀(.) in ², wherev is a function from ² × ₊ to ² such that divv=0 andf is a given nondecreasing function from to . An explicit Euler scheme is used for the time discretisation of the equation, and a triangular mesh for the spatial discretisation. Under a usual stability condition, we prove the convergence of the solution given by an upstream finite volume scheme towards the unique entropy weak solution to the equation.     

Numerical analysis for a conservative difference scheme to solve the Schrödinger-Boussinesq equation

In this paper, we present a finite difference scheme for the solution of an initial-boundary value problem of the Schrödinger-Boussinesq equation. The scheme is fully implicit and conserves two invariable quantities of the system. We investigate the existence of the solution for the scheme, give computational process for the numerical solution and prove convergence of iteration method by which a nonlinear algebra system for unknown Vⁿ⁺¹ is solved. On the basis of a priori estimates for a numerical solution, the uniqueness, convergence and stability for the difference solution is discussed. Numerical experiments verify the accuracy of our method.     

Numerical analysis of nonlinear multiharmonic eddy current problems

Summary This work is devoted to non-linear eddy current problems and their numerical treatment by the so-called multiharmonic approach. Since the sources are usually alternating currents, we propose a truncated Fourier series expansion instead of a costly time-stepping scheme. Moreover, we suggest to introduce some regularization parameter that ensures unique solvability not only in the factor space of divergence-free functions, but also in the whole space H(curl). Finally, we provide a rigorous estimate for the total error that is due to the use of truncated Fourier series, the regularization technique and the spatial finite element discretization.This work has been supported by the Austrian Science Fund Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung (FWF) under the grants SFB F013, P 14953 and START Y192.     

Analysis of a one-dimensional free boundary flow problem

A one-dimensional free surface problem is considered. It consists in Burgers’ equation with an additional diffusion term on a moving interval. The well-posedness of the problem is investigated and existence and uniqueness results are obtained locally in time. A semi-discretization in space with a piecewise linear finite element method is considered. A priori and a posteriori error estimates are given for the semi-discretization in space. A time splitting scheme allows to obtain numerical results in agreement with the theoretical investigations.Supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation     

Transport equation with boundary conditions for free surface localization

Summary. During the filling stage of an injection moulding process, which consists in casting a melt polymer in order to manufacture plastic pieces, the free interface between polymer and air has to be precisely described. We set this interface as a zero level set of an unknown function. This function satisfies a transport equation with boundary conditions, where the velocity field has few regularity properties. In a first part, we obtain existence and uniqueness result for these equations, under weaker regularity assumptions than C. Bardos [Bar70], and C. Bardos, Y. Leroux and J.C. Nedelec [BLN79] in previous articles, but stronger assumptions than R.J. DiPerna and P.L. Lions [DL89b] who studied the case without boundary condition. We also study some regularity properties of the interface. A second part is devoted to an application to injection molding of melt polymer. We give a numerical experiment which shows that our method leads to an accurate localization of interface, which is robust, since it easily handles changes of topology of the free interface, as bubble formation or fusion of two fronts of melt polymer. Received November 1, 1997 / Revised version received December 9, 1998 / Published online September 24, 1999     

Grid modification for the wave equation with attenuation

Summary. The wave equation with attenuation due to a linear friction is approximated by a new mixed finite element method which allows one to use different grids and basis functions at different times when necessary. This method enables one to track sharp moving wave fronts more efficiently and accurately. Error estimates with optimal convergent rates are established. Unconditional stability is also proved for this method. Received March 27, 1992/Revised version received May 21, 1993     

Numerical method and analytical technique of the modified anomalous subdiffusion equation with a nonlinear source term

In this paper, we consider a modified anomalous subdiffusion equation with a nonlinear source term for describing processes that become less anomalous as time progresses by the inclusion of a second fractional time derivative acting on the diffusion term. A new implicit difference method is constructed. The stability and convergence are discussed using a new energy method. Finally, some numerical examples are given. The numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of theoretical analysis.     

A stable and conservative finite difference scheme for the Cahn-Hilliard equation

Summary. We propose a stable and conservative finite difference scheme to solve numerically the Cahn-Hilliard equation which describes a phase separation phenomenon. Numerical solutions to the equation is hard to obtain because it is a nonlinear and nearly ill-posed problem. We design a new difference scheme based on a general strategy proposed recently by Furihata and Mori. The new scheme inherits characteristic properties, the conservation of mass and the decrease of the total energy, from the equation. The decrease of the total energy implies boundedness of discretized Sobolev norm of the solution. This in turn implies, by discretized Sobolev's lemma, boundedness of max norm of the solution, and hence the stability of the solution. An error estimate for the solution is obtained and the order is . Numerical examples demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme. Received July 22, 1997 / Revised version received October 19, 1999 / Published online August 2, 2000     

A second-order accurate numerical method for a fractional wave equation

We study a generalized Crank–Nicolson scheme for the time discretization of a fractional wave equation, in combination with a space discretization by linear finite elements. The scheme uses a non-uniform grid in time to compensate for the singular behaviour of the exact solution at t = 0. With appropriate assumptions on the data and assuming that the spatial domain is convex or smooth, we show that the error is of order k ² + h ², where k and h are the parameters for the time and space meshes, respectively.     

Convergence estimates of a projection-difference method for an operator-differential equation

This article investigates the projection-difference method for a Cauchy problem for a linear operator-differential equation with a leading self-adjoint operator A(t) and a subordinate linear operator K(t) in Hilbert space. This method leads to the solution of a system of linear algebraic equations on each time level; moreover, the projection subspaces are linear spans of eigenvectors of an operator similar to A(t). The convergence estimates are obtained. The application of the developed method for solving the initial boundary value problem is given.     

Finite element analysis of exponentially fitted Lumped schemes for time-dependent convection-diffusion problems

Summary In the paper we consider a singularly perturbed linear parabolic initialboundary value problem in one space variable. Two exponential fitted schemes are derived for the problem using Petrov-Galerkin finite element methods with various choices of trial and test spaces. On rectangular meshes which are either arbitrary or slightly restricted, we derive global energy norm andL ² norm and localL error bounds which are uniform in the diffusion parameter. Numerical results are also persented.     

A singular perturbation of the heat equation with memory

In this paper we consider a hyperbolic equation, with a memory term in time, which can be seen as a singular perturbation of the heat equation with memory. The qualitative properties of the solutions of the initial boundary value problems associated with both equations are studied. We propose numerical methods for the hyperbolic and parabolic models and their stability properties are analyzed. Finally, we include numerical experiments illustrating the performance of those methods.     

Non-global existence for an Allen-Cahn-Gurtin equation with logarithmic free energy

We consider a simple Allen-Cahn-Gurtin model with a logarithmic potential. We show that strong solutions exist locally in time, but not globally in general. This is due to a lack of maximum principle.