Mesh and solver co‐adaptation in finite element methods for anisotropic problems

Mesh generation and algebraic solver are two important aspects of the finite element methodology. In this article, we are concerned with the joint adaptation of the anisotropic triangular mesh and the iterative algebraic solver. Using generic numerical examples pertaining to the accurate and efficient finite element solution of some anisotropic problems, we hereby demonstrate that the processes of geometric mesh adaptation and the algebraic solver construction should be adapted simultaneously. We also propose some techniques applicable to the co‐adaptation of both anisotropic meshes and linear solvers. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2005     

Discrete maximum principle for the finite element solution of linear non-stationary diffusion–reaction problems

The maximum principle is one of the basic characteristic properties of solutions of second order partial differential equations of parabolic (and elliptic) types. The preservation of this property for solutions of corresponding discretized problems is a very natural requirement in reliable and meaningful numerical modelling of various real-life phenomena (heat conduction, air pollution, etc.). In the present paper we analyse a full discretization of a quite general class of linear parabolic equations and present sufficient conditions for the validity of a discrete analogue of the maximum principle in the case when bilinear finite elements are used for discretization in space.     

Existence of solution of a finite volume scheme preserving maximum principle for diffusion equations

In this article, a cell‐centered finite volume scheme preserving maximum principle for diffusion equations with scalar coefficients is developed. The construction of the scheme consists of three steps: at first the discrete normal flux is obtained by a linear combination of two single‐sided fluxes, then the tangential term of the normal flux is modified by using a nonlinear combination of two single‐sided tangential fluxes, finally the auxiliary unknowns in the tangential fluxes are calculated by the convex combinations of the cell‐centered unknowns. It is proved that this nonlinear scheme satisfies the discrete maximum principle (DMP). Moreover, the existence of a solution of the nonlinear scheme is proved by using the Brouwer's fixed point theorem and the bounded estimates. Numerical experiments are presented to show that the scheme not only satisfies DMP, but also obtains the second‐order accuracy and conservation.© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 34: 80–96, 2018     

An adaptive finite element method for a time‐dependent Stokes problem

In this article, we conduct an a posteriori error analysis of the two‐dimensional time‐dependent Stokes problem with homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions, which can be extended to mixed boundary conditions. We present a full time–space discretization using the discontinuous Galerkin method with polynomials of any degree in time and the ? ₂ ? ?₁ Taylor–Hood finite elements in space, and propose an a posteriori residual‐type error estimator. The upper bounds involve residuals, which are global in space and local in time, and an L ²‐error term evaluated on the left‐end point of time step. From the error estimate, we compute local error indicators to develop an adaptive space/time mesh refinement strategy. Numerical experiments verify our theoretical results and the proposed adaptive strategy.     

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     

Implicit‐explicit multistep finite element methods for nonlinear convection‐diffusion problems

Implicit‐explicit multistep finite element methods for nonlinear convection‐diffusion equations are presented and analyzed. In space we discretize by finite element methods. The discretization in time is based on linear multistep schemes. The linear part of the equation is discretized implicitly and the nonlinear part of the equation explicitly. The schemes are stable and very efficient. We derive optimal order error estimates. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 17:93–104, 2001     

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     

Parallel characteristic finite element method for time‐dependent convection–diffusion problem

Based on the overlapping‐domain decomposition and parallel subspace correction method, a new parallel algorithm is established for solving time‐dependent convection–diffusion problem with characteristic finite element scheme. The algorithm is fully parallel. We analyze the convergence of this algorithm, and study the dependence of the convergent rate on the spacial mesh size, time increment, iteration times and sub‐domains overlapping degree. Both theoretical analysis and numerical results suggest that only one or two iterations are needed to reach to optimal accuracy at each time step. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A local defect correction technique for time‐dependent problems

In this article a local defect correction technique for time‐dependent problems is presented. The method is suitable for solving partial differential equations characterized by a high activity, which is mainly located, at each time, in a small part of the physical domain. The problem is solved at each time step by means of a global uniform coarse grid and a local uniform fine grid. Local and global approximation are improved iteratively. Results of numerical experiments illustrate the accuracy, the efficiency, and the robustness of the method. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2006     

Modelling traffic flow with a time‐dependent fundamental diagram

We model traffic flow with a time‐dependent fundamental diagram. A time‐dependent fundamental diagram arises naturally from various factors such as weather conditions, traffic jam or modern traffic congestion managements, etc. The model is derived from a car‐following model which takes into account the situation changes over the time elapsed time. It is a system of non‐concave hyperbolic conservation laws with time‐dependent flux and the sources. The global existence and uniqueness of the solution to the Cauchy problem is established under the condition that the variation in time of the fundamental diagram is bounded. The zero relaxation limit of the solutions is found to be the unique entropy solution of the equilibrium equation. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Two‐grid methods for mixed finite‐element solution of coupled reaction‐diffusion systems

We develop 2‐grid schemes for solving nonlinear reaction‐diffusion systems: where p = (p, q) is an unknown vector‐valued function. The schemes use discretizations based on a mixed finite‐element method. The 2‐grid approach yields iterative procedures for solving the nonlinear discrete equations. The idea is to relegate all the Newton‐like iterations to grids much coarser than the final one, with no loss in order of accuracy. The iterative algorithms examined here extend a method developed earlier for single reaction‐diffusion equations. An application to prepattern formation in mathematical biology illustrates the method's effectiveness. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 15: 589–604, 1999     

Finite‐time stability and boundedness of switched nonlinear time‐delay systems under state‐dependent switching

This article investigates the finite‐time stability, stabilization, and boundedness problems for switched nonlinear systems with time‐delay. Unlike the existing average dwell‐time technique based on time‐dependent switching strategy, largest region function strategy, that is, state‐dependent switching control strategy is adopted to design the switching signal, which does not require the switching instants to be given in advance. Some sufficient conditions which guarantee finite‐time stable, stabilization, and boundedness of switched nonlinear systems with time‐delay are presented in terms of linear matrix inequalities. Detail proofs are given using multiple Lyapunov‐like functions. A numerical example is given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 21: 267–275, 2015     

The fully Sinc‐Galerkin method for time‐dependent boundary conditions

The fully Sinc‐Galerkin method is developed for a family of complex‐valued partial differential equations with time‐dependent boundary conditions. The Sinc‐Galerkin discrete system is formulated and represented by a Kronecker product form of those equations. The numerical solution is efficiently calculated and the method exhibits an exponential convergence rate. Several examples, some with a real‐valued solution and some with a complex‐valued solution, are used to demonstrate the performance of this method. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2004     

A partially penalty immersed interface finite element method for anisotropic elliptic interface problems

In this article, we develop a partially penalty immersed interface finite element (PIFE) method for a kind of anisotropy diffusion models governed by the elliptic interface problems with discontinuous tensor‐coefficients. This method is based on linear immersed interface finite elements (IIFE) and applies the discontinuous Galerkin formulation around the interface. We add two penalty terms to the general IIFE formulation along the sides intersected with the interface. The flux jump condition is weakly enforced on the smooth interface. By proving that the piecewise linear function on an interface element is uniquely determined by its values at the three vertices under some conditions, we construct the finite element spaces. Therefore, a PIFE procedure is proposed, which is based on the symmetric, nonsymmetric or incomplete interior penalty discontinuous Galerkin formulation. Then we prove the consistency and the solvability of the procedure. Theoretical analysis and numerical experiments show that the PIFE solution possesses optimal‐order error estimates in the energy norm and norm.© 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 30: 1984–2028, 2014     

An upwind finite volume scheme and its maximum‐principle‐preserving ADI splitting for unsteady‐state advection‐diffusion equations

We develop an upwind finite volume (UFV) scheme for unsteady‐state advection‐diffusion partial differential equations (PDEs) in multiple space dimensions. We apply an alternating direction implicit (ADI) splitting technique to accelerate the solution process of the numerical scheme. We investigate and analyze the reason why the conventional ADI splitting does not satisfy maximum principle in the context of advection‐diffusion PDEs. Based on the analysis, we propose a new ADI splitting of the upwind finite volume scheme, the alternating‐direction implicit, upwind finite volume (ADFV) scheme. We prove that both UFV and ADFV schemes satisfy maximum principle and are unconditionally stable. We also derive their error estimates. Numerical results are presented to observe the performance of these schemes. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 19: 211–226, 2003     

Numerical solution of diffraction problems by a least‐squares finite element method

Consider the diffraction of a time‐harmonic wave incident upon a periodic (grating) structure. Under certain assumptions, the diffraction problem may be modelled by a Helmholtz equation with transparent boundary conditions. In this paper, the diffraction problem is formulated as a first‐order system of linear equations and solved by a least‐squares finite element method. The method follows the general minus one norm approach of Bramble, Lazarov, and Pasciak. Our computational experiments indicate that the method is accurate with the optimal convergence property, and it is capable of dealing with complicated grating structures. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Superconvergence and gradient recovery for a finite volume element method for solving convection‐diffusion equations

We study the superconvergence of the finite volume element (FVE) method for solving convection‐diffusion equations using bilinear trial functions. We first establish a superclose weak estimate for the bilinear form of FVE method. Based on this estimate, we obtain the H¹‐superconvergence result: . Then, we present a gradient recovery formula and prove that the recovery gradient possesses the ‐order superconvergence. Moreover, an asymptotically exact a posteriori error estimate is also given for the gradient error of FVE solution.Copyright © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 30: 1152–1168, 2014     

Finite element method for two‐dimensional time‐fractional tricomi‐type equations

In this article, we consider the finite element method (FEM) for two‐dimensional linear time‐fractional Tricomi‐type equations, which is obtained from the standard two‐dimensional linear Tricomi‐type equation by replacing the first‐order time derivative with a fractional derivative (of order α, with 1 <α< 2 ). The method is based on finite element method for space and finite difference method for time. We prove that the method is unconditionally stable, and the error estimate is presented. The comparison of the FEM results with the exact solutions is made, and numerical experiments reveal that the FEM is very effective. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 2013