Approximations of linear control problems with bang-bang solutions

We analyse the Euler discretization to a class of linear optimal control problems. First we show convergence of order h for the discrete approximation of the adjoint solution and the switching function, where h is the mesh size. Under the additional assumption that the optimal control has bang-bang structure we show that the discrete and the exact controls coincide except on a set of measure O(h). As a consequence, the discrete optimal control approximates the optimal control with order 1 w.r.t. the L ¹-norm and with order 1/2 w.r.t. the L ²-norm. An essential assumption is that the slopes of the switching function at its zeros are bounded away from zero which is in fact an inverse stability condition for these zeros. We also discuss higher order approximation methods based on the approximation of the adjoint solution and the switching function. Several numerical examples underline the results.     

Error estimates for the discretization of elliptic control problems with pointwise control and state constraints

A family of elliptic optimal control problems with pointwise constraints on control and state is considered. We are interested in approximation of the optimal solution by a finite element discretization of the involved partial differential equations. The discretization error for a problem with mixed state constraints is estimated in the semidiscrete case and in the fully discrete scheme with the convergence of order h|ln h| and h ^1/2, respectively. However, considering the unregularized continuous problem and the discrete regularized version, and choosing suitable relation between the regularization parameter and the mesh size, i.e., ε∼h ², a convergence order arbitrary close to 1, i.e., h ^1−β is obtained. Therefore, we benefit from tuning the involved parameters.     

Error estimates of a linear decoupled Euler–FEM scheme for a mass diffusion model

We present error estimates of a linear fully discrete scheme for a three-dimensional mass diffusion model for incompressible fluids (also called Kazhikhov–Smagulov model). All unknowns of the model (velocity, pressure and density) are approximated in space by C ⁰-finite elements and in time an Euler type scheme is used decoupling the density from the velocity–pressure pair. If we assume that the velocity and pressure finite-element spaces satisfy the inf–sup condition and the density finite-element space contains the products of any two discrete velocities, we first obtain point-wise stability estimates for the density, under the constraint lim_(h,k)→0 h/k = 0 (h and k being the space and time discrete parameters, respectively), and error estimates for the velocity and density in energy type norms, at the same time. Afterwards, error estimates for the density in stronger norms are deduced. All these error estimates will be optimal (of order O(h+k){\mathcal{O}(h+k)}) for regular enough solutions without imposing nonlocal compatibility conditions at the initial time. Finally, we also study two convergent iterative methods for the two problems to solve at each time step, which hold constant matrices (independent of iterations).     

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     

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.     

Local discontinuous Galerkin methods with explicit Runge‐Kutta time marching for nonlinear carburizing model

A fully discrete local discontinuous Galerkin (LDG) method coupled with 3 total variation diminishing Runge‐Kutta time‐marching schemes, for solving a nonlinear carburizing model, will be analyzed and implemented in this paper. On the basis of a suitable numerical flux setting in the LDG method, we obtain the optimal error estimate for the Runge‐Kutta–LDG schemes by energy analysis, under the condition τ ≤ λh², where h and τ are mesh size and time step, respectively, λ is a positive constant independent of h. Numerical experiments are presented to verify the accuracy and capability of the proposed schemes. For the carburizing diffusion processes of steel and the diffusion simulation for Cu‐Ni system, the numerical results show good agreement with the experimental results.     

Superconvergence of triangular mixed finite elements for optimal control problems with an integral constraint

In this paper, we shall investigate the superconvergence property of quadratic elliptical optimal control problems by triangular mixed finite element methods. The state and co-state are approximated by the order k = 1 Raviart-Thomas mixed finite elements and the control is discretized by piecewise constant functions. We prove the superconvergence error estimate of h² in L²-norm between the approximated solution and the interpolation of the exact control variable. Moreover, by postprocessing technique, we find that the projection of the discrete adjoint state is superclose (in order h²) to the exact control variable.     

Interior penalty discontinuous Galerkin methods with implicit time‐integration techniques for nonlinear parabolic equations

We prove existence and numerical stability of numerical solutions of three fully discrete interior penalty discontinuous Galerkin methods for solving nonlinear parabolic equations. Under some appropriate regularity conditions, we give the l²(H¹) and l^∞(L²) error estimates of the fully discrete symmetric interior penalty discontinuous Galerkin–scheme with the implicit θ ‐schemes in time, which include backward Euler and Crank–Nicolson finite difference approximations. Our estimates are optimal with respect to the mesh size h. The theoretical results are confirmed by some numerical experiments. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2013     

Two energy-conserving and compact finite difference schemes for two-dimensional Schrödinger-Boussinesq equations

In this paper, we study two compact finite difference schemes for the Schrödinger-Boussinesq (SBq) equations in two dimensions. The proposed schemes are proved to preserve the total mass and energy in the discrete sense. In our numerical analysis, besides the standard energy method, a “cut-off” function technique and a “lifting” technique are introduced to establish the optimal H¹ error estimates without any restriction on the grid ratios. The convergence rate is proved to be of O(τ² + h⁴) with the time step τ and mesh size h. In addition, a fast finite difference solver is designed to speed up the numerical computation of the proposed schemes. The numerical results are reported to verify the error estimates and conservation laws.

     

Superconvergence and a posteriori error estimates of RT1 mixed methods for elliptic control problems with an integral constraint

In this paper, we investigate the superconvergence property and a posteriori error estimates of mixed finite element methods for a linear elliptic control problem with an integral constraint. The state and co-state are approximated by the order k = 1 Raviart-Thomas mixed finite element spaces and the control variable is approximated by piecewise constant functions. Approximations of the optimal control of the continuous optimal control problem will be constructed by a projection of the discrete adjoint state. It is proved that these approximations have convergence order h ². Moreover, we derive a posteriori error estimates both for the control variable and the state variables. Finally, a numerical example is given to demonstrate the theoretical results.     

A Priori Error Estimates for Finite Element Methods for H (2,1)-Elliptic Equations

The convergence of finite element methods for linear elliptic boundary value problems of second and forth order is well understood. In this article, we introduce finite element approximations of some linear semi-elliptic boundary value problem of mixed order on a two-dimensional rectangular domain Q. The equation is of second order in one direction and forth order in the other and appears in the optimal control of parabolic partial differential equations if one eliminates the control and the state (or the adjoint state) in the first order optimality conditions. We establish a regularity result and estimate for the finite element error of conforming approximations of this equation. The finite elements in use have a tensor product structure, in one dimension we use linear, quadratic or cubic Lagrange elements in the other dimension cubic Hermite elements. For these elements, we prove the error bound O(h ² + τ ^k ) in the energy norm and O((h ² + τ ^k )(h ² + τ)) in the L ²(Q)-norm.     

Finite difference methods for a nonlinear and strongly coupled heat and moisture transport system in textile materials

In this paper, we study heat and moisture transport through porous textile materials with phase change, described by a degenerate, nonlinear and strongly coupled parabolic system. An uncoupled finite difference method with semi-implicit Euler scheme in time direction is proposed for the system. We prove the existence and uniqueness of the solution of the finite difference system. The optimal error estimates in both discrete L ² and H ¹ norms are obtained under the condition that the mesh sizes τ and h are smaller than a positive constant, which depends solely upon physical parameters involved. Numerical results are presented to confirm our theoretical analysis and compared with experimental data.     

On the maximum principle and its application to diffusion equations

In this article, an analog of the maximum principle has been established for an ordinary differential operator associated with a semi‐discrete approximation of parabolic equations. In applications, the maximum principle is used to prove O(h²) and O(h⁴) uniform convergence of the method of lines for the diffusion Equation (1). The system of ordinary differential equations obtained by the method of lines is solved by an implicit predictor corrector method. The method is tested by examples with the use of the enclosed Mathematica module solveDiffusion. The module solveDiffusion gives the solution by O(h²) uniformly convergent discrete scheme or by O(h⁴) uniformly convergent discrete scheme. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2007     

Optimal error analysis of Crank–Nicolson lowest-order Galerkin-mixed finite element method for incompressible miscible flow in porous media

Numerical methods for incompressible miscible flow in porous media have been studied extensively in the last several decades. In practical applications, the lowest-order Galerkin-mixed method is the most popular one, where the linear Lagrange element is used for the concentration and the lowest order Raviart–Thomas mixed element pair is used for the Darcy velocity and pressure. The existing error estimate of the method in L² -norm is in the order in spatial direction, which however is not optimal and valid only under certain extra restrictions on both time step and spatial meshes, excluding the most commonly used mesh h = h_p = h_c . This paper focuses on new and optimal error estimates of a linearized Crank–Nicolson lowest-order Galerkin-mixed finite element method (FEM), where the second-order accuracy for the concentration in both time and spatial directions is established unconditionally. The key to our optimal error analysis is an elliptic quasi-projection. Moreover, we propose a simple one-step recovery technique to obtain a new numerical Darcy velocity and pressure of second-order accuracy. Numerical results for both two and three-dimensional models are provided to confirm our theoretical analysis.     

Unconditional superconvergent analysis of a new mixed finite element method for Ginzburg–Landau equation

In this article, unconditional superconvergent analysis of a linearized fully discrete mixed finite element method is presented for a class of Ginzburg–Landau equation based on the bilinear element and zero‐order Nédélec's element pair (Q₁₁/Q₀₁ × Q₁₀). First, a time‐discrete system is introduced to split the error into temporal error and spatial error, and the corresponding error estimates are deduced rigorously. Second, the unconditional superclose and optimal estimate of order O(h² + τ) for u in H¹‐norm and p = ?u in L²‐norm are derived respectively without the restrictions on the ratio between h and τ, where h is the subdivision parameter and τ, the time step. Third, the global superconvergent results are obtained by interpolated postprocessing technique. Finally, some numerical results are carried out to confirm the theoretical analysis.     

An effective version of the Bombieri–Vinogradov theorem, and applications to Chen’s theorem and to sums of primes and powers of two

In this paper we give an effective version of the Bombieri–Vinogradov theorem of Bombieri, Friedlander, and Iwaniec. As applications, we refine Chen’s theorem on primes with difference h for h ≤ x ^1/56, with a consequence on integers of the form p + 2 ^k .     

A two-grid finite element method for the Allen-Cahn equation with the logarithmic potential

In this paper, we present a two-grid finite element method for the Allen-Cahn equation with the logarithmic potential. This method consists of two steps. In the first step, based on a fully implicit finite element method, the Allen-Cahn equation is solved on a coarse grid with mesh size H. In the second step, a linearized system whose nonlinear term is replaced by the value of the first step is solved on a fine grid with mesh size h. We give the energy stabilities of the traditional finite element method and the two-grid finite element method. The optimal convergence order of the two-grid finite element method in H¹ norm is achieved when the mesh sizes satisfy h = O(H²). Numerical examples are given to demonstrate the validity of the proposed scheme. The results show that the two-grid method can save the CPU time while keeping the same convergence rate.     

Solution of a Certain Class of Problems of Optimal Control Theory in Domains of an Arbitrary Form

To solve optimal control problems for elliptic systems in domains that have an arbitrary form, we use a combination of the method of dummy domains and the grid method. We show that the proposed difference scheme has precision of order O(h ^1/2) with respect to the grid norm of W₂ ².     

Local and parallel algorithms for fourth order problems discretized by the Morley–Wang–Xu element method

This paper systematically studies numerical solution of fourth order problems in any dimensions by use of the Morley–Wang–Xu (MWX) element discretization combined with two-grid methods (Xu and Zhou (Math Comp 69:881–909, 1999)). Since the coarse and fine finite element spaces are nonnested, two intergrid transfer operators are first constructed in any dimensions technically, based on which two classes of local and parallel algorithms are then devised for solving such problems. Following some ideas in (Xu and Zhou (Math Comp 69:881–909, 1999)), the intrinsic derivation of error analysis for nonconforming finite element methods of fourth order problems (Huang et al. (Appl Numer Math 37:519–533, 2001); Huang et al. (Sci China Ser A 49:109–120, 2006)), and the error estimates for the intergrid transfer operators, we prove that the discrete energy errors of the two classes of methods are of the sizes O(h + H ²) and O(h + H ²(H/h)^(d−1)/2), respectively. Here, H and h denote respectively the mesh sizes of the coarse and fine finite element triangulations, and d indicates the space dimension of the solution region. Numerical results are performed to support the theory obtained and to compare the numerical performance of several local and parallel algorithms using different intergrid transfer operators.     

Stable enrichment and local preconditioning in the particle-partition of unity method

This paper is concerned with the stability and approximation properties of enriched meshfree and generalized finite element methods. In particular we focus on the particle-partition of unity method (PPUM) yet the presented results hold for any partition of unity based enrichment scheme. The goal of our enrichment scheme is to recover the optimal convergence rate of the uniform h-version independent of the regularity of the solution. Hence, we employ enrichment not only for modeling purposes but rather to improve the approximation properties of the numerical scheme. To this end we enrich our PPUM function space in an enrichment zone hierarchically near the singularities of the solution. This initial enrichment however can lead to a severe ill-conditioning and can compromise the stability of the discretization. To overcome the ill-conditioning of the enriched shape functions we present an appropriate local preconditioner which yields a stable and well-conditioned basis independent of the employed initial enrichment. The construction of this preconditioner is of linear complexity with respect to the number of discretization points. We obtain optimal error bounds for an enriched PPUM discretization with local preconditioning that are independent of the regularity of the solution globally and within the employed enrichment zone we observe a kind of super-convergence. The results of our numerical experiments clearly show that our enriched PPUM with local preconditioning recovers the optimal convergence rate of O(h ^p ) of the uniform h-version globally. For the considered model problems from linear elastic fracture mechanics we obtain an improved convergence rate of O(h ^p+δ ) with d 3 \frac12{\delta\geq\frac{1}{2}} for p = 1. The convergence rate of our multilevel solver is essentially the same for a purely polynomial approximation and an enriched approximation.