Additive Schwarz algorithms for the p version of the Galerkin boundary element method

Summary. We study some additive Schwarz algorithms for the version Galerkin boundary element method applied to some weakly singular and hypersingular integral equations of the first kind. Both non-overlapping and overlapping methods are considered. We prove that the condition numbers of the additive Schwarz operators grow at most as independently of h, where p is the degree of the polynomials used in the Galerkin boundary element schemes and h is the mesh size. Thus we show that additive Schwarz methods, which were originally designed for finite element discretisation of differential equations, are also efficient preconditioners for some boundary integral operators, which are non-local operators. Received June 15, 1997 / Revised version received July 7, 1998 / Published online February 17, 2000     

An implicit–explicit residual error estimator for the coupling of dual‐mixed finite elements and boundary elements in elastostatics

We consider the coupling of dual‐mixed finite elements and boundary elements to solve a mixed Dirichlet–Neumann problem of plane elasticity. We derive an a‐posteriori error estimate that is based on the solution of local Dirichlet problems and on a residual term defined on the coupling interface. The general error estimate does not make use of any special finite element or boundary element spaces. Here the residual term is given in a negative order Sobolev norm. In practical applications, where a certain boundary element subspace is used, this norm can be estimated by weighted local L²‐norms. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the solution of Maxwell's equations in polygonal domains

This paper is concerned with the structure of the singular and regular parts of the solution of time‐harmonic Maxwell's equations in polygonal plane domains and their effective numerical treatment. The asymptotic behaviour of the solution near corner points of the domain is studied by means of discrete Fourier transformation and it is proved that the solution of the boundary value problem does not belong locally to H² when the boundary of the domain has non‐acute angles. A splitting of the solution into a regular part belonging to the space H², and an explicitly described singular part is presented. For the numerical treatment of the boundary value problem, we propose a finite element discretization which combines local mesh grading and the singular field methods and derive a priori error estimates that show optimal convergence as known for the classical finite element method for problems with regular solutions. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The finite element method with non-uniform mesh sizes applied to the exterior Helmholtz problem

Summary The finite element method with non-uniform mesh sizes is employed to approximately solve Helmholtz type equations in unbounded domains. The given problem on an unbounded domain is replaced by an approximate problem on a bounded domain with the radiation condition replaced by an approximate radiation boundary condition on the artificial boundary. This approximate problem is then solved using the finite element method with the mesh graded systematically in such a way that the element mesh sizes are increased as the distance from the origin increases. This results in a great reduction in the number of equations to be solved. It is proved that optimal error estimates hold inL ²,H ¹ andL , provided that certain relationships hold between the frequency, mesh size and outer radius.     

The hp-Version of the Boundary Element Method in ℝ3 The Basic Approximation Results

This paper deals with the basic approximation properties of the h–p version of the boundary element method (BEM) in ℝ³. We extend the results on the exponential convergence of the h–p version of the boundary element method on geometric meshes from problems in polygonal domains to problems in polyhedral domains. In 2D elliptic boundary value problems the solutions have only corner singularities whereas in 3D problems they contain additional edge and corner-edge singularities. The solutions of the corresponding boundary integral equations inherit those singularities. The detailed investigations in our analysis take care of the various types of those singularities. While edge singularities can be analysed using standard one-dimensional approximation results the corner-edge singularities demand a new analysis. © 1997 by B. G. Teubner Stuttgart–John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

The p-version of the boundary element method for hypersingular operators on piecewise plane open surfaces

Summary. We prove an optimal a priori error estimate for the p-version of the boundary element method with hypersingular operators on piecewise plane open surfaces. The solutions of problems on open surfaces typically exhibit a singular behavior at the edges and corners of the surface which prevent an approximation analysis in H¹. We analyze the approximation by polynomials of typical singular functions in fractional order Sobolev spaces thus giving, as an application, the optimal rate of convergence of the p-version of the boundary element method. This paper extends the results of [C. Schwab, M. Suri, The optimal p-version approximation of singularities on polyhedra in the boundary element method, SIAM J. Numer. Anal., 33 (1996), pp. 729–759] who only considered closed surfaces where the solution is in H¹.Mathematics Subject Classification (2000): 41A10, 65N15, 65N38Financed by the FONDAP Program in Applied Mathematics, Chile.Supported by the FONDAP Program in Applied Mathematics and Fondecyt project no. 1010220, both Chile.     

A posteriori finite element error estimators for indefinite elliptic boundary value problems ∗

A general construction technique is presented for a posteriori error estimators of finite element solutions of elliptic boundary value problems that satisfy a Gång inequality. The estimators are obtained by an element–by–element solution of ‘weak residual’ with or without considering element boundary residuals. There is no order restriction on the finite element spaces used for the approximate solution or the error estimation; that is, the design of the estimators is applicable in connection with either one of the h–p–, or hp– formulations of the finite element method. Under suitable assumptions it is shown that the estimators are bounded by constant multiples of the true error in a suitable norm. Some numerical results are given to demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the approach.     

Penalty-combined approaches to the Ritz-Galerkin and finite element methods for singularity problems of elliptic equations

Penlty coupling techniques on an interface boundary, artificial or material, are first presented for combining the Ritz–Galerkin and finite element methods. An optimal convergence rate first is proved in the Sobolev norms. Moreover, a significant coupling strategy, L + 1 = O(|ln h|), between these two methods are derived for the Laplace equation with singularities, where L + 1 is the total number of particular solutions used in the Ritz–Galerkin method, and h is the maximal boundary length of quasiuniform elements used in the linear finite element method. Numreical experiments have been carried out for solving the benchmark model: Motz's problem. Both theoretical analysis and numreical experiments clearly display the importance of penalty-combined methods is solving elliptic equations with singularities.     

Superconvergence of the - version of the finite element method in one dimension

In this paper, we investigate the superconvergence properties of the h-p version of the finite element method (FEM) for two-point boundary value problems. A postprocessing technique for the h-p finite element approximation is analyzed. The analysis shows that the postprocess improves the order of convergence. Furthermore, we obtain asymptotically exact a posteriori error estimators based on the postprocessing results. Numerical examples are included to illustrate the theoretical analysis.     

Low‐order stabilized finite element methods for the unsteady Stokes/Navier‐Stokes equations with friction boundary conditions

In this paper, we consider low‐order stabilized finite element methods for the unsteady Stokes/Navier‐Stokes equations with friction boundary conditions. The time discretization is based on the Euler implicit scheme, and the spatial discretization is based on the low‐order element (P₁−P₁ or P₁−P₀) for the approximation of the velocity and pressure. Moreover, some error estimates for the numerical solution of fully discrete stabilized finite element scheme are obtained. Finally, numerical experiments are performed to confirm our theoretical results.     

On the numerical solution of Plateau's problem

The present paper is dedicated to the numerical computation of minimal surfaces by the boundary element method. Having a parametrization γ of the boundary curve over the unit circle at hand, the problem is reduced to seeking a reparametrization κ of the unit circle. The Dirichlet energy of the harmonic extension of γ○κ has to be minimized among all reparametrizations. The energy functional is calculated as boundary integral that involves the Dirichlet-to-Neumann map. First and second order necessary optimality conditions of the underlying minimization problem are formulated. Existence and convergence of approximate solutions is proven. An efficient algorithm is proposed for the computation of minimal surfaces and numerical results are presented.     

Approximation of the bifurcation function for elliptic boundary value problems

The bifurcation function for an elliptic boundary value problem is a vector field B(ω) on R ^d whose zeros are in a one‐to‐one correspondence with the solutions of the boundary value problem. Finite element approximations of the boundary value problem are shown to give rise to an approximate bifurcation function B^h(ω), which is also a vector field on R ^d. Estimates of the difference B(ω) − B^h(ω) are derived, and methods for computing B^h(ω) are discussed. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 16: 194–213, 2000     

Adaptive FE–BE coupling for strongly nonlinear transmission problems with Coulomb friction

We analyze an adaptive finite element/boundary element procedure for scalar elastoplastic interface problems involving friction, where a nonlinear uniformly monotone operator such as the p-Laplacian is coupled to the linear Laplace equation on the exterior domain. The problem is reduced to a boundary/domain variational inequality, a discretized saddle point formulation of which is then solved using the Uzawa algorithm and adaptive mesh refinements based on a gradient recovery scheme. The Galerkin approximations are shown to converge to the unique solution of the variational problem in a suitable product of L ^p - and L ²-Sobolev spaces.     

Variable trial functions and the CVBEM

The Complex Variable Boundary Element Method; or CVBEM will be developed with respect to a variable trial function definition over each boundary element. The benefits in using this technique are that the modeling error in matching the prescribed boundary conditions (there is no error in satisfying the Laplace equation) is reduced without the addition of nodal points to the problem discretization. Consequently, the n × n matrix requirements are not increased when using this new approach.     

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     

Pointwise superconvergence of the gradient for the linear tetrahedral element

We consider the finite element approximation to the solution of a self-adjoint, second-order elliptic boundary value problem in three dimensions over a fully uniform mesh of piecewise linear tetrahedral elements. Although the resulting approximation to the gradient is optimal for functions from the approximating space, it is, however, only O(h). We show how this can be improved by the recovery, from the finite element solution, of an approximation to the gradient, which is pointwise of a higher order of accuracy than that of the gradient of the finite element approximation. This approximation, termed a recovered gradient function, is, thus, superconvergent. The major task of our analysis is the establishing of an (almost) constant bound on the W seminorm of the finite element approximation to a smoothed derivative Green's function. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Boundary element tearing and interconnecting methods in unbounded domains

Finite element tearing and interconnecting (FETI) methods and boundary element tearing and interconnecting (BETI) methods are special iterative substructuring methods with Lagrange multipliers. For elliptic boundary value problems on bounded domains, the condition number of these methods can be rigorously bounded by C(1+log(H/h))², where H is the subdomain diameter and h the mesh size. The constant C is independent of H, h and possible jumps in the coefficients of the partial differential equation.In certain situations, e.g., in electromagnetic field computations, instead of imposing artificial boundary conditions one may be interested in modelling the real physical behaviour in an exterior domain with a radiation condition. In this work we analyze one-level BETI methods for such unbounded domains and show explicit condition number estimates similar to the one above. Our theoretical results are confirmed in numerical experiments.     

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.     

Adaptive Galerkin boundary element methods with panel clustering

In this paper, we will propose a boundary element method for solving classical boundary integral equations on complicated surfaces which, possibly, contain a large number of geometric details or even uncertainties in the given data. The (small) size of such details is characterised by a small parameter and the regularity of the solution is expected to be low in such zones on the surface (which we call the wire-basket zones). We will propose the construction of an initial discretisation for such type of problems. Afterwards standard strategies for boundary element discretisations can be applied such as the h, p, and the adaptive hp-version in a straightforward way. For the classical boundary integral equations, we will prove the optimal approximation results of our so-called wire-basket boundary element method and discuss the stability aspects. Then, we construct the panel-clustering and -matrix approximations to the corresponding Galerkin BEM stiffness matrix. The method is shown to have an almost linear complexity with respect to the number of degrees of freedom located on the wire basket.     

On the spline collocation method for the single layer equation related to time-fractional diffusion

The boundary element spline collocation method is studied for the time-fractional diffusion equation in a bounded two-dimensional domain. We represent the solution as the single layer potential which leads to a Volterra integral equation of the first kind. We discretize the boundary integral equation with the spline collocation method on uniform meshes both in spatial and time variables. In the stability analysis we utilize the Fourier analysis technique developed for anisotropic pseudodifferential equations. We prove that the collocation solution is quasi-optimal under some stability condition for the mesh parameters. We have to assume that the mesh parameter in time satisfies (h_t=c h^\frac2a)(h_t=c h^{\frac{2}{\alpha}}), where (h) is the spatial mesh parameter.