Quasi-norm error bounds for the finite element approximation of a non-Newtonian flow

Summary. We consider the finite element approximation of a non-Newtonian flow, where the viscosity obeys a general law including the Carreau or power law. For sufficiently regular solutions we prove energy type error bounds for the velocity and pressure. These bounds improve on existing results in the literature. A key step in the analysis is to prove abstract error bounds initially in a quasi-norm, which naturally arises in degenerate problems of this type. Received May 25, 1993 / Revised version received January 11, 1994     

A unified approach to a posteriori error estimation using element residual methods

Summary This paper deals with the problem of obtaining numerical estimates of the accuracy of approximations to solutions of elliptic partial differential equations. It is shown that, by solving appropriate local residual type problems, one can obtain upper bounds on the error in the energy norm. Moreover, in the special case of adaptiveh-p finite element analysis, the estimator will also give a realistic estimate of the error. A key feature of this is the development of a systematic approach to the determination of boundary conditions for the local problems. The work extends and combines several existing methods to the case of fullh-p finite element approximation on possibly irregular meshes with, elements of non-uniform degree. As a special case, the analysis proves a conjecture made by Bank and Weiser [Some A Posteriori Error Estimators for Elliptic Partial Differential Equations, Math. Comput.44, 283–301 (1985)].     

Degenerate two-phase incompressible flow III. Sharp error estimates

Summary. This is the third paper of a series in which we analyze mathematical properties and develop numerical methods for a degenerate elliptic-parabolic partial differential system which describes the flow of two incompressible, immiscible fluids in porous media. In this paper we consider a finite element approximation for this system. The elliptic equation for the pressure and velocity is approximated by a mixed finite element method, while the degenerate parabolic equation for the saturation is approximated by a Galerkin finite element method. A fully discrete approximation is analyzed. Sharp error estimates in energy norms are obtained for this approximation. The error analysis does not use any regularization of the saturation equation; the error estimates are derived directly from the degenerate equation. Also, the analysis does not impose any restriction on the nature of degeneracy. Finally, it respects the minimal regularity on the solution of the differential system. Received March 9, 1998 / Revised version received July 17, 2000 / Published online May 30, 2001     

Quasi-norm a priori and a posteriori error estimates for the nonconforming approximation of p-Laplacian

Summary. In this paper, we derive quasi-norm a priori and a posteriori error estimates for the Crouzeix-Raviart type finite element approximation of the p-Laplacian. Sharper a priori upper error bounds are obtained. For instance, for sufficiently regular solutions we prove optimal a priori error bounds on the discretization error in an energy norm when . We also show that the new a posteriori error estimates provide improved upper and lower bounds on the discretization error. For sufficiently regular solutions, the a posteriori error estimates are further shown to be equivalent on the discretization error in a quasi-norm. Received January 25, 1999 / Revised version received June 5, 2000 Published online March 20, 2001     

A posteriori error estimations of residual type for Signorini's problem

This paper presents an a posteriori error analysis for the linear finite element approximation of the Signorini problem in two space dimensions. A posteriori estimations of residual type are defined and upper and lower bounds of the discretization error are obtained. We perform several numerical experiments in order to compare the convergence of the terms in the error estimator with the discretization error.     

An analysis of finite element locking in a parameter dependent model problem

Summary. We consider the bilinear finite element approximation of smooth solutions to a simple parameter dependent elliptic model problem, the problem of highly anisotropic heat conduction. We show that under favorable circumstances that depend on both the finite element mesh and on the type of boundary conditions, the effect of parametric locking of the standard FEM can be reduced by a simple variational crime. In our analysis we split the error in two orthogonal components, the approximation error and the consistency error, and obtain different bounds for these separate components. Also some numerical results are shown. Received September 6, 1999 / Revised version received March 28, 2000 / Published online April 5, 2001     

Numerical analysis of diffraction by periodic structures: TM polarization

Summary. The diffraction of a time harmonic wave in TM polarization by some periodic inhomogeneous material is studied in this paper. The diffraction problem is modeled by a generalized Helmholtz equation with transparent boundary conditions. Existence and uniqueness are proved for the model problem. Uniform error estimates for the finite element approximation of the solution are established. Error estimates are also obtained when the truncation of the nonlocal boundary operators takes place. Received July 24, 1994 / Revised version received August 24, 1995     

A second order splitting method for the Cahn-Hilliard equation

Summary A semi-discrete finite element method requiring only continuous element is presented for the approximation of the solution of the evolutionary, fourth order in space, Cahn-Hilliard equation. Optimal order error bounds are derived in various norms for an implementation which uses mass lumping. The continuous problem has an energy based Lyapunov functional. It is proved that this property holds for the discrete problem.Research partially supported by NSF Grant DMS-8896141     

Mixed finite element approximation of a degenerate elliptic problem

Summary. We present a mixed finite element approximation of an elliptic problem with degenerate coefficients, arising in the study of the electromagnetic field in a resonant structure with cylindrical symmetry. Optimal error bounds are derived. Received May 4, 1994 / Revised version received September 27, 1994     

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.     

A normal compliance contact problem in viscoelasticity: An a posteriori error analysis and computational experiments

In this work, the numerical approximation of a viscoelastic contact problem is studied. The classical Kelvin-Voigt constitutive law is employed, and contact is assumed with a deformable obstacle and modelled using the normal compliance condition. The variational formulation leads to a nonlinear parabolic variational equation. An existence and uniqueness result is recalled. Then, a fully discrete scheme is introduced, by using the finite element method to approximate the spatial variable and the implicit Euler scheme to discretize time derivatives. A priori error estimates recently proved for this problem are recalled. Then, an a posteriori error analysis is provided, extending some preliminary results obtained in the study of the heat equation and other parabolic equations. Upper and lower error bounds are proved. Finally, some numerical experiments are presented to demonstrate the accuracy and the numerical behaviour of the error estimates.     

Residual type a posteriori error estimates for elliptic obstacle problems

Summary. A posteriori error estimators of residual type are derived for piecewise linear finite element approximations to elliptic obstacle problems. An instrumental ingredient is a new interpolation operator which requires minimal regularity, exhibits optimal approximation properties and preserves positivity. Both upper and lower bounds are proved and their optimality is explored with several examples. Sharp a priori bounds for the a posteriori estimators are given, and extensions of the results to double obstacle problems are briefly discussed. Received June 19, 1998 / Published online December 6, 1999     

Error bounds for the finite element approximation of an incompressible material in an unbounded domain

Summary. In this paper we design high-order local artificial boundary conditions and present error bounds for the finite element approximation of an incompressible elastic material in an unbounded domain. The finite element approximation is formulated in a bounded computational domain using a nonlocal approximate artificial boundary condition or a local one. In fact there are a family of nonlocal approximate artificial boundary conditions with increasing accuracy (and computational cost) and a family of local ones for a given artificial boundary. Our error bounds indicate how the errors of the finite element approximations depend on the mesh size, the terms used in the approximate artificial boundary condition and the location of the artificial boundary. Numerical examples of an incompressible elastic material outside a circle in the plane is presented. Numerical results demonstrate the performance of our error bounds. Received August 31, 1998 / Revised version received November 6, 2001 / Published online March 8, 2002     

Error bounds for finite element solutions of mildly nonlinear elliptic boundary value problems

Summary The equivalence in a Hilbert space of variational and weak formulations of linear elliptic boundary value problems is well known. This same equivalence is proved here for mildly nonlinear problems where the right hand side of the differential equation involves the solution function. A finite element approximation to the solution of the weak problem ina finite dimensional subspace of the original Hilbert space is defined. An inequality bounding the error in this approximation over all functions of the space is derived, and in particular this holds for an interpolant to the weak solution. Thus this inequality, together with previously known, interpolation error bounds, produces a bound on the finite element solution to this nonlinear problem. An example of a mildly nonlinear Poisson problem is given.     

A priori and a posteriori error analyses in the study of viscoelastic problems

In this work, the numerical approximation of a viscoelastic problem is studied. A fully discrete scheme is introduced by using the finite element method to approximate the spatial variable and an Euler scheme to discretize time derivatives. Then, two numerical analyses are presented. First, a priori estimates are proved from which the linear convergence of the algorithm is derived under suitable regularity conditions. Secondly, an a posteriori error analysis is provided extending some preliminary results obtained in the study of the heat equation. Upper and lower error bounds are obtained.     

Finite element error analysis of a quasi-Newtonian flow obeying the Carreau or power law

Summary We consider the finite element approximation of a quasi-Newtonian flow, where the viscosity obeys the Carreau or power law. For sufficiently regular solutions we prove energy type error bounds for the velocity and pressure. These bounds improve on existing results in the literature.Supported by SERC research grant GR/F81255     

Efficient computable error bounds for discontinuous Galerkin approximations of elliptic problems

We present guaranteed and computable both sided error bounds for the discontinuous Galerkin (DG) approximations of elliptic problems. These estimates are derived in the full DG-norm on purely functional grounds by the analysis of the respective differential problem, and thus, are applicable to any qualified DG approximation. Based on the triangle inequality, the underlying approach has the following steps for a given DG approximation: (1) computing a conforming approximation in the energy space using the Oswald interpolation operator, and (2) application of the existing functional a posteriori error estimates to the conforming approximation. Various numerical examples with varying difficulty in computing the error bounds, from simple problems of polynomial-type analytic solution to problems with analytic solution having sharp peaks, or problems with jumps in the coefficients of the partial differential equation operator, are presented which confirm the efficiency and the robustness of the estimates.     

Approximation of Infinite Boundary Condition and Its Application to Finite Element Methods

The exterior boundary value problems of Laplace equation and linear elastic equations are considered. A series of approximate infinite boundary conditions are given. Then the original problem is reduced to a boundary value problem on a bounded domain. The finite element approximation of this problem and its error estimate are obtained. Finally, a numerical example shows that this method is very effective.     

A POSTERIORI ERROR ESTIMATE FOR BOUNDARY CONTROL PROBLEMS GOVERNED BY THE PARABOLIC PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS

In this paper, we discuss the a posteriori error estimate of the finite element approximation for the boundary control problems governed by the parabolic partial differential equations. Three different a posteriori error estimators are provided for the parabolic boundary control problems with the observations of the distributed state, the boundary state and the final state. It is proven that these estimators are reliable bounds of the finite element approximation errors, which can be used as the indicators of the mesh refinement in adaptive finite element methods.     

On a decoupled algorithm for solving a finite element problem for the approximation of viscoelastic fluid flow

Summary. The aim of this work is to study a decoupled algorithm of a fixed point for solving a finite element (FE) problem for the approximation of viscoelastic fluid flow obeying an Oldroyd B differential model. The interest for this algorithm lies in its applications to numerical simulation and in the cost of computing. Furthermore it is easy to bring this algorithm into play. The unknowns are the viscoelastic part of the extra stress tensor, the velocity and the pressure. We suppose that the solution is sufficiently smooth and small. The approximation of stress, velocity and pressure are resp. discontinuous, continuous, continuous FE. Upwinding needed for convection of , is made by discontinuous FE. The method consists to solve alternatively a transport equation for the stress, and a Stokes like problem for velocity and pressure. Previously, results of existence of the solution for the approximate problem and error bounds have been obtained using fixed point techniques with coupled algorithm. In this paper we show that the mapping of the decoupled fixed point algorithm is locally (in a neighbourhood of ) contracting and we obtain existence, unicity (locally) of the solution of the approximate problem and error bounds. Received July 29, 1994 / Revised version received March 13, 1995