An optimal‐order error estimate on an H1‐Galerkin mixed method for a nonlinear parabolic equation in porous medium flow

We present an H¹‐Galerkin mixed finite element method for a nonlinear parabolic equation, which models a compressible fluid flow process in subsurface porous media. The method possesses the advantages of mixed finite element methods while avoiding directly inverting the permeability tensor, which is important especially in a low permeability zone. We conducted theoretical analysis to study the existence and uniqueness of the numerical solutions of the scheme and prove an optimal‐order error estimate for the method. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2010     

Superconvergence of the split least‐squares method for second‐order hyperbolic equations

This article studies superconvergence phenomena of the split least‐squares mixed finite element method for second‐order hyperbolic equations. By selecting the least‐squares functional properly, the procedure can be split into two independent symmetric positive definite subprocedures, one of which is for the primitive unknown and the other is for the flux. Based on interpolation operators and an auxiliary projection, superconvergent H¹ error estimates for the primary variable u and L² error estimates for the introduced flux variable σ are obtained under the standard quasiuniform assumptions on finite element partition. A numerical example is given to show the performance of the introduced scheme. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 30: 222‐238, 2014     

Stability and convergence of two‐grid Crank‐Nicolson extrapolation scheme for the time‐dependent natural convection equations

In this paper, we consider the Crank‐Nicolson extrapolation scheme for the 2D/3D unsteady natural convection problem. Our numerical scheme includes the implicit Crank‐Nicolson scheme for linear terms and the recursive linear method for nonlinear terms. Standard Galerkin finite element method is used to approximate the spatial discretization. Stability and optimal error estimates are provided for the numerical solutions. Furthermore, a fully discrete two‐grid Crank‐Nicolson extrapolation scheme is developed, the corresponding stability and convergence results are derived for the approximate solutions. Comparison from aspects of the theoretical results and computational efficiency, the two‐grid Crank‐Nicolson extrapolation scheme has the same order as the one grid method for velocity and temperature in H¹‐norm and for pressure in L²‐norm. However, the two‐grid scheme involves much less work than one grid method. Finally, some numerical examples are provided to verify the established theoretical results and illustrate the performances of the developed numerical schemes.     

A decoupling two‐grid algorithm for the mixed Stokes‐Darcy model with the Beavers‐Joseph interface condition

In this article, a decoupling scheme based on two‐grid finite element for the mixed Stokes‐Darcy problem with the Beavers‐Joseph interface condition is proposed and investigated. With a restriction of a physical parameter α, we derive the numerical stability and error estimates for the scheme. Numerical experiments indicate that such two‐grid based decoupling finite element schemes are feasible and efficient. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 30: 1066–1082, 2014     

A space‐time mixed‐hybrid finite element method for the damped wave equation

A space‐time finite element method is introduced to solve the linear damped wave equation. The scheme is constructed in the framework of the mixed‐hybrid finite element methods, and where an original conforming approximation of H(div;Ω) is used, the latter permits us to obtain an upwind scheme in time. We establish the link between the nonstandard finite difference scheme recently introduced by Mickens and Jordan and the scheme proposed. In this regard, two approaches are considered and in particular we employ a formulation allowing the solution to be marched in time, i.e., one only needs to consider one time increment at a time. Numerical results are presented and compared with the analytical solution illustrating good performance of the present method. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 2008     

Two‐Grid method for nonlinear parabolic equations by expanded mixed finite element methods

In this article, we develop a two‐grid algorithm for nonlinear reaction diffusion equation (with nonlinear compressibility coefficient) discretized by expanded mixed finite element method. The key point is to use two‐grid scheme to linearize the nonlinear term in the equations. The main procedure of the algorithm is solving a small‐scaled nonlinear equations on the coarse grid and dealing with a linearized system on the fine space using the Newton iteration with the coarse grid solution. Error estimation to the expanded mixed finite element solution is analyzed in detail. We also show that two‐grid solution achieves the same accuracy as long as the mesh sizes satisfy H = O(h^1/2). Two numerical experiments are given to verify the effectiveness of the algorithm. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2013     

One‐level and two‐level finite element methods for the Boussinesq problem

Previous works on the convergence of numerical methods for the Boussinesq problem were conducted, while the optimal L²‐norm error estimates for the velocity and temperature are still lacked. In this paper, the backward Euler scheme is used to discrete the time terms, standard Galerkin finite element method is adopted to approximate the variables. The MINI element is used to approximate the velocity and pressure, the temperature field is simulated by the linear polynomial. Under some restriction on the time step, we firstly present the optimal L² error estimates of approximate solutions. Secondly, two‐level method based on Stokes iteration for the Boussinesq problem is developed and the corresponding convergence results are presented. By this method, the original problem is decoupled into two small linear subproblems. Compared with the standard Galerkin method, the two‐level method not only keeps good accuracy but also saves a lot of computational cost. Finally, some numerical examples are provided to support the established theoretical analysis.     

A two‐grid method for mixed finite‐element solution of reaction‐diffusion equations

We present a scheme for solving two‐dimensional, nonlinear reaction‐diffusion equations, using a mixed finite‐element method. To linearize the mixed‐method equations, we use a two grid scheme that relegates all the Newton‐like iterations to a grid Δ_H much coarser than the original one Δ_h, with no loss in order of accuracy so long as the mesh sizes obey . The use of a multigrid‐based solver for the indefinite linear systems that arise at each coarse‐grid iteration, as well as for the similar system that arises on the fine grid, allows for even greater efficiency. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 15: 317–332, 1999     

Superconvergence of a two‐grid method for fourth‐order dispersive‐dissipative wave equations

In this paper, the superconvergence analysis of a two‐grid method (TGM) with low‐order finite elements is presented for the fourth‐order dispersive‐dissipative wave equations for a second order fully discrete scheme. The superclose estimates in the H¹‐norm on the two grids are obtained by the combination technique of the interpolation and Ritz projection. Then, with the help of the interpolated postprocessing technique, the global superconvergence properties are deduced. Finally, numerical results are provided to show the performance of the proposed TGM for conforming bilinear element and nonconforming element, respectively. It shows that the TGM is an effective method to the problem considered of our paper compared with the traditional Galerkin finite element method (FEM).     

The Crank‐Nicolson/Adams‐Bashforth scheme for the time‐dependent Navier‐Stokes equations with nonsmooth initial data

In this article, we study the stability and convergence of the Crank‐Nicolson/Adams‐Bashforth scheme for the two‐dimensional nonstationary Navier‐Stokes equations with a nonsmooth initial data. A finite element method is applied for the spatial approximation of the velocity and pressure. The time discretization is based on the implicit Crank‐Nicolson scheme for the linear terms and the explicit Adams‐Bashforth scheme for the nonlinear term. Moreover, we prove that the scheme is almost unconditionally stable for a nonsmooth initial data u₀ with div u₀ = 0, i.e., the time step τ satisfies: τ ≤ C₀ if u₀ ∈ H¹ ∩ L^∞; τ |log h| ≤ C₀ if u₀ ∈ H¹ for the mesh size h and some positive constant C₀. Finally, we obtain some error estimates for the discrete velocity and pressure under the above stability condition. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 28: 155‐187, 2012     

Fractional Crank–Nicolson–Galerkin finite element scheme for the time‐fractional nonlinear diffusion equation

This article presents a finite element scheme with Newton's method for solving the time‐fractional nonlinear diffusion equation. For time discretization, we use the fractional Crank–Nicolson scheme based on backward Euler convolution quadrature. We discuss the existence‐uniqueness results for the fully discrete problem. A new discrete fractional Gronwall type inequality for the backward Euler convolution quadrature is established. A priori error estimate for the fully discrete problem in L²(Ω) norm is derived. Numerical results based on finite element scheme are provided to validate theoretical estimates on time‐fractional nonlinear Fisher equation and Huxley equation.     

Methods for the numerical solution of the Benjamin‐Bona‐Mahony‐Burgers equation

L^∞‐error estimates for finite element for Galerkin solutions for the Benjamin‐Bona‐Mahony‐Burgers (BBMB) equation are considered. A priori bound and the semidiscrete Galerkin scheme are studied using appropriate projections. For fully discrete Galerkin schemes, we consider the backward Euler method and analyze the corresponding error estimates. For a second order accuracy in time, we propose a three‐level backward method. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2008     

Convergence of the interpolated coefficient finite element method for the two‐dimensional elliptic sine‐Gordon equations

An interpolated coefficient finite element method is presented and analyzed for the two‐dimensional elliptic sine‐Gordon equations with Dirichlet boundary conditions. It is proved that the discretization scheme admits at least one solution, and that a subsequence of the approximation solutions converges to an exact solution in L²‐norm as the mesh size tends to zero. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2011     

The method of mixed volume element‐characteristic mixed volume element and its numerical analysis for three‐dimensional slightly compressible two‐phase displacement

Numerical simulation of oil‐water two‐phase displacement is a fundamental problem in energy mathematics. The mathematical model for the compressible case is defined by a nonlinear system of two partial differential equations: (1) a parabolic equation for pressure and (2) a convection‐diffusion equation for saturation. The pressure appears within the saturation equation, and the Darcy velocity controls the saturation. The flow equation is solved by the conservative mixed volume element method. The order of the accuracy is improved by the Darcy velocity. The conservative mixed volume element with characteristics is applied to compute the saturation, that is, the diffusion is discretized by the mixed volume element and convection is computed by the method of characteristics. The method of characteristics has strong computational stability at sharp fronts and avoids numerical dispersion and nonphysical oscillation. Small time truncation error and accuracy are obtained through this method. The mixed volume element simulates diffusion, saturation, and the adjoint vector function simultaneously. By using the theory and technique of a priori estimates of differential equations, convergence of the optimal second order in norm is obtained. Numerical examples are provided to show the effectiveness and viability of this method. This method provides a powerful tool for solving challenging benchmark problems.     

A Crank‐Nicolson Petrov‐Galerkin method with quadrature for semi‐linear parabolic problems

We propose and analyze an application of a fully discrete C² spline quadrature Petrov‐Galerkin method for spatial discretization of semi‐linear parabolic initial‐boundary value problems on rectangular domains. We prove second order in time and optimal order H¹ norm convergence in space for the extrapolated Crank‐Nicolson quadrature Petrov‐Galerkin scheme. We demonstrate numerically both L² and H¹ norm optimal order convergence of the scheme even if the nonlinear source term is not smooth. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2005.     

Nonconforming finite element methods with subgrid viscosity applied to advection‐diffusion‐reaction equations

A nonconforming (Crouzeix–Raviart) finite element method with subgrid viscosity is analyzed to approximate advection‐diffusion‐reaction equations. The error estimates are quasi‐optimal in the sense that keeping the Péclet number fixed, the estimates are suboptimal of order in the mesh size for the L²‐norm and optimal for the advective derivative on quasi‐uniform meshes. The method is also reformulated as a finite volume box scheme providing a reconstruction formula for the diffusive flux with local conservation properties. Numerical results are presented to illustrate the error analysis. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2006     

Lorenz‐gauged vector potential formulations for the time‐harmonic eddy‐current problem with L∞‐regularity of material properties

In this paper, we consider some Lorenz‐gauged vector potential formulations of the eddy‐current problem for the time‐harmonic Maxwell equations with material properties having only L^∞‐regularity. We prove that there exists a unique solution of these problems, and we show the convergence of a suitable finite element approximation scheme. Moreover, we show that some previously proposed Lorenz‐gauged formulations are indeed formulations in terms of the modified magnetic vector potential, for which the electric scalar potential is vanishing. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Robust residual‐ and recovery‐based a posteriori error estimators for a multipoint flux mixed finite element discretization of interface problems

We consider a posteriori error estimation for a multipoint flux mixed finite element method for two‐dimensional elliptic interface problems. Within the class of modified quasi‐monotonically distributed coefficients, we derive a residual‐type a posteriori error estimator of the weighted sum of the scalar and flux errors which is robust with respect to the jumps of the coefficients. Moreover, we develop robust implicit and explicit recovery‐type estimators through gradient recovery in an H(curl)‐conforming finite element space. In particular, we apply a modified L² projection in the implicit recovery procedure so as to reduce the computational cost of the recovered gradient. Numerical experiments confirm the theoretical results.     

A new combined finite element‐upwind finite volume method for convection‐dominated diffusion problems

In this article, we develop a combined finite element‐weighted upwind finite volume method for convection‐dominated diffusion problems in two dimensions, which discretizes the diffusion term with the standard finite element scheme, and the convection and source terms with the weighted upwind finite volume scheme. The developed method leads to a totally new scheme for convection‐dominated problems, which overcomes numerical oscillation, avoids numerical dispersion, and has high‐order accuracy. Stability analyses of the scheme are given for the problems with constant coefficients. Numerical experiments are presented to illustrate the stability and optimal convergence of our proposed method. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 32: 799–818, 2016     

Stability of a combined finite element ‐ finite volume discretization of convection‐diffusion equations

We consider a time‐dependent and a stationary convection‐diffusion equation. These equations are approximated by a combined finite element – finite volume method: the diffusion term is discretized by Crouzeix‐Raviart piecewise linear finite elements on a triangular grid, and the convection term by upwind barycentric finite volumes. In the nonstationary case, we use an implicit Euler approach for time discretization. This scheme is shown to be L²‐stable uniformly with respect to the diffusion coefficient. In addition, it turns out that stability is unconditional in the time‐dependent case. These results hold if the underlying grid satisfies a condition that is fulfilled, for example, by some structured meshes. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 28: 402–424, 2012