The finite element method for a boundary value problem with strong singularity

The existence and uniqueness of the R_ν-generalized solution for the third-boundary-value problem and the non-self-adjoint second-order elliptic equation with strong singularity are established. We construct a finite element method with a basis containing singular functions. The rate of convergence of the approximate solution to the R_ν-generalized solution in the norm of the Sobolev weighted space is established and, finally, results of numerical experiments are presented.     

The convergence of a direct BEM for the plane mixed boundary value problem of the Laplacian

Summary In this paper the convergence analysis of a direct boundary elecment method for the mixed boundary value problem for Laplace equation in a smooth plane domain is given. The method under consideration is based on the collocation solution by constant elements of the corresponding system of boundary integral equations. We prove the convergence of this method, provide asymptotic error estimates for the BEM-solution and give some numerical examples.     

Integration of singular Galerkin-type boundary element integrals for 3D elasticity problems

Summary. A Galerkin approximation of both strongly and hypersingular boundary integral equation (BIE) is considered for the solution of a mixed boundary value problem in 3D elasticity leading to a symmetric system of linear equations. The evaluation of Cauchy principal values (v. p.) and finite parts (p. f.) of double integrals is one of the most difficult parts within the implementation of such boundary element methods (BEMs). A new integration method, which is strictly derived for the cases of coincident elements as well as edge-adjacent and vertex-adjacent elements, leads to explicitly given regular integrand functions which can be integrated by the standard Gauss-Legendre and Gauss-Jacobi quadrature rules. Problems of a wide range of integral kernels on curved surfaces can be treated by this integration method. We give estimates of the quadrature errors of the singular four-dimensional integrals. Received June 25, 1995 / Revised version received January 29, 1996     

Discontinuous Least-Squares finite element method for the Div-Curl problem

In this paper, we consider the div-curl problem posed on nonconvex polyhedral domains. We propose a least-squares method based on discontinuous elements with normal and tangential continuity across interior faces, as well as boundary conditions, weakly enforced through a properly designed least-squares functional. Discontinuous elements make it possible to take advantage of regularity of given data (divergence and curl of the solution) and obtain convergence also on nonconvex domains. In general, this is not possible in the least-squares method with standard continuous elements. We show that our method is stable, derive a priori error estimates, and present numerical examples illustrating the method.     

Finite element methods for optimal control problems governed by integral equations and integro-differential equations

In this paper, we analyze finite-element Galerkin discretizations for a class of constrained optimal control problems that are governed by Fredholm integral or integro-differential equations. The analysis focuses on the derivation of a priori error estimates and a posteriori error estimators for the approximation schemes.Grants, communicated-by lines, or other notes about the article will be placed here between rules. Such notes are optional.     

A boundary element method for Signorini problems in three dimensions

Summary In this paper, a Signorini problem in three dimensions is reduced to a variational inequality on the boundary, and a boundary element method is described for the numerical approximation of its solution; an optimal error estimate is also given.This work is supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and by the Royal Society of London     

On the effect of numerical integration in the Galerkin boundary element method

Summary. We discuss the effect of cubature errors when using the Galerkin method for approximating the solution of Fredholm integral equations in three dimensions. The accuracy of the cubature method has to be chosen such that the error resulting from this further discretization does not increase the asymptotic discretization error. We will show that the asymptotic accuracy is not influenced provided that polynomials of a certain degree are integrated exactly by the cubature method. This is done by applying the Bramble-Hilbert Lemma to the boundary element method. Received May 24, 1995     

An adaptive stabilized finite element method for the generalized Stokes problem

In this work we present an adaptive strategy (based on an a posteriori error estimator) for a stabilized finite element method for the Stokes problem, with and without a reaction term. The hierarchical type estimator is based on the solution of local problems posed on appropriate finite dimensional spaces of bubble-like functions. An equivalence result between the norm of the finite element error and the estimator is given, where the dependence of the constants on the physics of the problem is explicited. Several numerical results confirming both the theoretical results and the good performance of the estimator are given.     

On computing the pressure by thep version of the finite element method for Stokes problem

Summary This paper introduces and analyzes two ways of extracting the hydrostatic pressure when solving Stokes problem using thep version of the finite element method. When one uses a localH ¹ projection, we show that optimal rates of convergence for the pressure approximation is achieved. When the pressure is not inH ¹. or the value of the pressure is only needed at a few points, one may extract the pressure pointwise using e.g. a single layer potential recovery. Negative, zero, and higher norm estimates for the Stokes velocity are derived within the framework of thep version of the F.E.M.Partially supported by ONR grants N00014-87-K-0427 and N00014-90-J-1238     

On the condition number of matrices arising in the tikhonov regularization method

In this work, we consider the regularization method for linear ill-posed problems. For operators and approximating subspaces satisfying certain conditions and for a specific form of the regularization parameter, upper and lower bounds are given for the condition number of the corresponding discrete problem.     

On the boundary element method for some nonlinear boundary value problems

Summary Here we analyse the boundary element Galerkin method for two-dimensional nonlinear boundary value problems governed by the Laplacian in an interior (or exterior) domain and by highly nonlinear boundary conditions. The underlying boundary integral operator here can be decomposed into the sum of a monotoneous Hammerstein operator and a compact mapping. We show stability and convergence by using Leray-Schauder fixed-point arguments due to Petryshyn and Neas.Using properties of the linearised equations, we can also prove quasioptimal convergence of the spline Galerkin approximations.This work was carried out while the first author was visiting the University of Stuttgart     

A convergent adaptive finite element method for an optimal design problem

The optimal design problem for maximal torsion stiffness of an infinite bar of given geometry and unknown distribution of two materials of prescribed amounts is one model example in topology optimisation. It eventually leads to a degenerate convex minimisation problem. The numerical analysis is therefore delicate for possibly multiple primal variables u but unique derivatives σ : = DW(D u). Even fine a posteriori error estimates still suffer from the reliability-efficiency gap. However, it motivates a simple edge-based adaptive mesh-refining algorithm (AFEM) that is not a priori guaranteed to refine everywhere. Its convergence proof is therefore based on energy estimates and some refined convexity control. Numerical experiments illustrate even nearly optimal convergence rates of the proposed AFEM. Supported by the DFG Research Center MATHEON “Mathematics for key technologies” in Berlin.     

Convergence analysis of a conforming adaptive finite element method for an obstacle problem

The adaptive algorithm for the obstacle problem presented in this paper relies on the jump residual contributions of a standard explicit residual-based a posteriori error estimator. Each cycle of the adaptive loop consists of the steps ‘SOLVE’, ‘ESTIMATE’, ‘MARK’, and ‘REFINE’. The techniques from the unrestricted variational problem are modified for the convergence analysis to overcome the lack of Galerkin orthogonality. We establish R-linear convergence of the part of the energy above its minimal value, if there is appropriate control of the data oscillations. Surprisingly, the adaptive mesh-refinement algorithm is the same as in the unconstrained case of a linear PDE—in fact, there is no modification near the discrete free boundary necessary for R-linear convergence. The arguments are presented for a model obstacle problem with an affine obstacle χ and homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions. The proof of the discrete local efficiency is more involved than in the unconstrained case. Numerical results are given to illustrate the performance of the error estimator.     

Exponential convergence of the hp-version for the boundary element method on open surfaces

Summary. We analyze the boundary element Galerkin method for weakly singular and hypersingular integral equations of the first kind on open surfaces. We show that the hp-version of the Galerkin method with geometrically refined meshes converges exponentially fast for both integral equations. The proof of this fast convergence is based on the special structure of the solutions of the integral equations which possess specific singularities at the corners and the edges of the surface. We show that these singularities can be efficiently approximated by piecewise tensor products of splines of different degrees on geometrically graded meshes. Numerical experiments supporting these results are presented. Received December 19, 1996 / Revised version received September 24, 1997 / Published online August 19, 1999     

Two-scale composite finite element method for Dirichlet problems on complicated domains

In this paper, we define a new class of finite elements for the discretization of problems with Dirichlet boundary conditions. In contrast to standard finite elements, the minimal dimension of the approximation space is independent of the domain geometry and this is especially advantageous for problems on domains with complicated micro-structures. For the proposed finite element method we prove the optimal-order approximation (up to logarithmic terms) and convergence estimates valid also in the cases when the exact solution has a reduced regularity due to re-entering corners of the domain boundary. Numerical experiments confirm the theoretical results and show the potential of our proposed method.     

Fast parallel solvers for symmetric boundary element domain decomposition equations

Summary. The boundary element method (BEM) is of advantage in many applications including far-field computations in magnetostatics and solid mechanics as well as accurate computations of singularities. Since the numerical approximation is essentially reduced to the boundary of the domain under consideration, the mesh generation and handling is simpler than, for example, in a finite element discretization of the domain. In this paper, we discuss fast solution techniques for the linear systems of equations obtained by the BEM (BE-equations) utilizing the non-overlapping domain decomposition (DD). We study parallel algorithms for solving large scale Galerkin BE–equations approximating linear potential problems in plane, bounded domains with piecewise homogeneous material properties. We give an elementary spectral equivalence analysis of the BEM Schur complement that provides the tool for constructing and analysing appropriate preconditioners. Finally, we present numerical results obtained on a massively parallel machine using up to 128 processors, and we sketch further applications to elasticity problems and to the coupling of the finite element method (FEM) with the boundary element method. As shown theoretically and confirmed by the numerical experiments, the methods are of algebraic complexity and of high parallel efficiency, where denotes the usual discretization parameter. Received August 28, 1996 / Revised version received March 10, 1997     

On the coupled BEM and FEM for a nonlinear exterior Dirichlet problem in R2

Summary In this paper we apply the coupling of boundary integral and finite element methods to solve a nonlinear exterior Dirichlet problem in the plane. Specifically, the boundary value problem consists of a nonlinear second order elliptic equation in divergence form in a bounded inner region, and the Laplace equation in the corresponding unbounded exterior region, in addition to appropriate boundary and transmission conditions. The main feature of the coupling method utilized here consists in the reduction of the nonlinear exterior boundary value problem to an equivalent monotone operator equation. We provide sufficient conditions for the coefficients of the nonlinear elliptic equation from which existence, uniqueness and approximation results are established. Then, we consider the case where the corresponding operator is strongly monotone and Lipschitz-continuous, and derive asymptotic error estimates for a boundary-finite element solution. We prove the unique solvability of the discrete operator equations, and based on a Strang type abstract error estimate, we show the strong convergence of the approximated solutions. Moreover, under additional regularity assumptions on the solution of the continous operator equation, the asymptotic rate of convergenceO (h) is obtained.The first author's research was partly supported by the U.S. Army Research Office through the Mathematical Science Institute of Cornell University, by the Universidad de Concepción through the Facultad de Ciencias, Dirección de Investigación and Vicerretoria, and by FONDECYT-Chile through Project 91-386.     

On a hybrid boundary element method

Summary. In this paper we study a symmetric boundary element method based on a hybrid discretization of the Steklov–Poincaré operator well suited for a symmetric coupling of finite and boundary elements. The representation used involves only single and double layer potentials and does not require the discretization of the hypersingular integral operator as in the symmetric formulation. The stability of the hybrid Galerkin discretization is based on a BBL–like stability condition for the trial spaces. Numerical examples confirm the theoretical results. Received December 15, 1997 / Revised version received December 21, 1998/ Published online November 17, 1999     

The problem of membrane locking in finite element analysis of cylindrical shells

Summary We analyse the problem of membrane locking in (h, p) finite element models of a thin hemicylindrical shell roof loaded by a smoothly varying normal pressure distribution. We show that in the standard finite element method, locking occurs especially at low values ofp and when the finite element grid is not aligned with the axis of the cylinder. A general strategy of avoiding locking by using modified bilinear forms is introduced, and a special implementation of this strategy on aligned rectangular grids is considered.     

Analysis of the cell boundary element methods for convection dominated convection-diffusion equations

We introduce two kinds of the cell boundary element (CBE) methods for convection dominated convection-diffusion equations: one is the CBE method with the exact bubble function and the other with inexact bubble functions. The main focus of this paper is on inexact bubble CBE methods. For inexact bubble CBE methods we introduce a family of numerical methods depending on two parameters, one for control of interior layers and the other for outflow boundary layers. Stability and convergence analysis are provided and numerical tests for inexact bubble CBEs with various choices of parameters are presented.