Finite element approximation of a fourth order nonlinear degenerate parabolic equation

Summary. We consider a fully practical finite element approximation of the fourth order nonlinear degenerate parabolic equation where generically for any given . An iterative scheme for solving the resulting nonlinear discrete system is analysed. In addition to showing well-posedness of our approximation, we prove convergence in one space dimension. Finally some numerical experiments are presented. Received July 29, 1997     

On positivity preserving finite volume schemes for Euler equations

Summary. We consider the positivity preserving property of first and higher order finite volume schemes for one and two dimensional Euler equations of gas dynamics. A general framework is established which shows the positivity of density and pressure whenever the underlying one dimensional first order building block based on an exact or approximate Riemann solver and the reconstruction are both positivity preserving. Appropriate limitation to achieve a high order positivity preserving reconstruction is described. Received May 20, 1994     

Grid modification for the wave equation with attenuation

Summary. The wave equation with attenuation due to a linear friction is approximated by a new mixed finite element method which allows one to use different grids and basis functions at different times when necessary. This method enables one to track sharp moving wave fronts more efficiently and accurately. Error estimates with optimal convergent rates are established. Unconditional stability is also proved for this method. Received March 27, 1992/Revised version received May 21, 1993     

Convergent difference schemes for nonlinear parabolic equations and mean curvature motion

Summary. Explicit finite difference schemes are given for a collection of parabolic equations which may have all of the following complex features: degeneracy, quasilinearity, full nonlinearity, and singularities. In particular, the equation of “motion by mean curvature” is included. The schemes are monotone and consistent, so that convergence is guaranteed by the general theory of approximation of viscosity solutions of fully nonlinear problems. In addition, an intriguing new type of nonlocal problem is analyzed which is related to the schemes, and another very different sort of approximation is presented as well. Received January 10, 1995     

Transport equation with boundary conditions for free surface localization

Summary. During the filling stage of an injection moulding process, which consists in casting a melt polymer in order to manufacture plastic pieces, the free interface between polymer and air has to be precisely described. We set this interface as a zero level set of an unknown function. This function satisfies a transport equation with boundary conditions, where the velocity field has few regularity properties. In a first part, we obtain existence and uniqueness result for these equations, under weaker regularity assumptions than C. Bardos [Bar70], and C. Bardos, Y. Leroux and J.C. Nedelec [BLN79] in previous articles, but stronger assumptions than R.J. DiPerna and P.L. Lions [DL89b] who studied the case without boundary condition. We also study some regularity properties of the interface. A second part is devoted to an application to injection molding of melt polymer. We give a numerical experiment which shows that our method leads to an accurate localization of interface, which is robust, since it easily handles changes of topology of the free interface, as bubble formation or fusion of two fronts of melt polymer. Received November 1, 1997 / Revised version received December 9, 1998 / Published online September 24, 1999     

Convergence of fluctuation-splitting schemes for two dimensional scalar conservation laws with a kinetic solver

Summary. The “fluctuation-splitting schemes” (FSS in short) have been introduced by Roe and Sildikover to solve advection equations on rectangular grids and then extended to triangular grids by Roe, Deconinck, Struij... For a two dimensional nonlinear scalar conservation law, we consider the case of a triangular grid and of a kinetic approach to reduce the discretization of the nonlinear equation to a linear equation and apply a particular FSS called N-scheme. We show that the resulting scheme converges strongly in in a finite volume sense. Received February 25, 1997 / Revised version received November 8, 1999 / Published online August 24, 2000     

Finite volume schemes for nonhomogeneous scalar conservation laws: error estimate

Summary. In this paper, we study finite volume schemes for the nonhomogeneous scalar conservation law with initial condition . The source term may be either stiff or nonstiff. In both cases, we prove error estimates between the approximate solution given by a finite volume scheme (the scheme is totally explicit in the nonstiff case, semi-implicit in the stiff case) and the entropy solution. The order of these estimates is in space-time -norm (h denotes the size of the mesh). Furthermore, the error estimate does not depend on the stiffness of the source term in the stiff case. Received October 21, 1999 / Published online February 5, 2001     

Convergence of finite volume monotone schemes for scalar conservation laws on bounded domains

Summary. This paper is devoted to the study of the finite volume methods used in the discretization of conservation laws defined on bounded domains. General assumptions are made on the data: the initial condition and the boundary condition are supposed to be measurable bounded functions. Using a generalized notion of solution to the continuous problem (namely the notion of entropy process solution, see [9]) and a uniqueness result on this solution, we prove that the numerical solution converges to the entropy weak solution of the continuous problem in for every . This also yields a new proof of the existence of an entropy weak solution. Received May 18, 2000 / Revised version received November 21, 2000 / Published online June 7, 2001     

On the convergence of finite difference schemes for the heat equation with concentrated capacity

Summary. We investigate the convergence of difference schemes for the one-dimensional heat equation when the coefficient at the time derivative (heat capacity) is represents the magnitude of the heat capacity concentrated at the point . An abstract operator method is developed for analyzing this equation. Estimates for the rate of convergence in special discrete energetic Sobolev's norms, compatible with the smoothness of the solution are obtained. Received November 2, 1999 / Revised version received July 24, 2000 / Published online May 4, 2001     

An error bound for the finite element approximation of the Cahn-Hilliard equation with logarithmic free energy

Summary. An error bound is proved for a fully practical piecewise linear finite element approximation, using a backward Euler time discretization, of the Cahn-Hilliard equation with a logarithmic free energy. Received October 12, 1994     

Multiresolution schemes for conservation laws

Summary. In recent years a variety of high–order schemes for the numerical solution of conservation laws has been developed. In general, these numerical methods involve expensive flux evaluations in order to resolve discontinuities accurately. But in large parts of the flow domain the solution is smooth. Hence in these regions an unexpensive finite difference scheme suffices. In order to reduce the number of expensive flux evaluations we employ a multiresolution strategy which is similar in spirit to an approach that has been proposed by A. Harten several years ago. Concrete ingredients of this methodology have been described so far essentially for problems in a single space dimension. In order to realize such concepts for problems with several spatial dimensions and boundary fitted meshes essential deviations from previous investigations appear to be necessary though. This concerns handling the more complex interrelations of fluxes across cell interfaces, the derivation of appropriate evolution equations for multiscale representations of cell averages, stability and convergence, quantifying the compression effects by suitable adapted multiscale transformations and last but not least laying grounds for ultimately avoiding the storage of data corresponding to a full global mesh for the highest level of resolution. The objective of this paper is to develop such ingredients for any spatial dimension and block structured meshes obtained as parametric images of Cartesian grids. We conclude with some numerical results for the two–dimensional Euler equations modeling hypersonic flow around a blunt body. Received June 24, 1998 / Revised version received February 21, 2000 / Published online November 8, 2000     

A stabilized finite element method for the incompressible magnetohydrodynamic equations

Summary. We propose and analyze a stabilized finite element method for the incompressible magnetohydrodynamic equations. The numerical results that we present show a good behavior of our approximation in experiments which are relevant from an industrial viewpoint. We explain in particular in the proof of our convergence theorem why it may be interesting to stabilize the magnetic equation as soon as the hydrodynamic diffusion is small and even if the magnetic diffusion is large. This observation is confirmed by our numerical tests. Received August 31, 1998 / Revised version received June 16, 1999 / Published online June 21, 2000     

Numerical and theoretical study of a Dual Mesh Method using finite volume schemes for two phase flow problems in porous media

Summary. In this paper we are interested in two phase flow problems in porous media. We use a Dual Mesh Method to discretize this problem with finite volume schemes. In a simplified case (elliptic - hyperbolic system) we prove the convergence of approximate solutions to the exact solutions. We use the Dual Mesh Method in physically complex problems (heterogeneous cases with non constant total mobility). We validate numerically the Dual Mesh Method on practical examples by computing error estimates for different test-cases. Received March 21, 1997 / Revised version received October 13, 1997     

Accuracy and conservation properties in numerical integration: the case of the Korteweg-de Vries equation

Summary. When numerically integrating time-dependent differential equations, it is often recommended to employ methods that preserve some of the invariant quantities (mass, energy, etc.) of the problem being considered. This recommendation is usually justified on the grounds that conservation of invariant quantities may ensure that the numerical solution possesses some important qualitative features. However there are cases where schemes that preserve invariants are also advantageous in that they possess favourable error propagation mechanisms that render them superior from a quantitative point of view. In the present paper we consider the Korteweg-de Vries equation as a case study. We show rigorously that, for soliton problems and at leading order, the error of conservative schemes consists of a phase error that grows linearly with time plus a complementary term that is bounded in the norm uniformly in time. For ‘general’, nonconservative schemes the error involves a linearly growing amplitude error, a quadratically growing phase error and a complementary term that grows linearly in the norm. Numerical experiments are presented. Received November 21, 1994 / Revised version received July 17, 1995     

Convergence of higher order upwind finite volume schemes on unstructured grids for scalar conservation laws in several space dimensions

Summary. We prove convergence of a class of higher order upwind finite volume schemes on unstructured grids for scalar conservation laws in several space dimensions. The result is applied to the discontinuous Galerkin method due to Cockburn, Hou and Shu. Received April 15, 1993 / Revised version received March 13, 1995     

Analysis of finite difference schemes for unsteady Navier-Stokes equations in vorticity formulation

Summary. In this paper, we provide stability and convergence analysis for a class of finite difference schemes for unsteady incompressible Navier-Stokes equations in vorticity-stream function formulation. The no-slip boundary condition for the velocity is converted into local vorticity boundary conditions. Thom's formula, Wilkes' formula, or other local formulas in the earlier literature can be used in the second order method; while high order formulas, such as Briley's formula, can be used in the fourth order compact difference scheme proposed by E and Liu. The stability analysis of these long-stencil formulas cannot be directly derived from straightforward manipulations since more than one interior point is involved in the formula. The main idea of the stability analysis is to control local terms by global quantities via discrete elliptic regularity for stream function. We choose to analyze the second order scheme with Wilkes' formula in detail. In this case, we can avoid the complicated technique necessitated by the Strang-type high order expansions. As a consequence, our analysis results in almost optimal regularity assumption for the exact solution. The above methodology is very general. We also give a detailed analysis for the fourth order scheme using a 1-D Stokes model. Received December 10, 1999 / Revised version received November 5, 2000 / Published online August 17, 2001     

A posteriori error estimate for finite volume approximations to singularly perturbed nonlinear convection-diffusion equations

Summary. This paper is devoted to the study of a posteriori and a priori error estimates for the scalar nonlinear convection diffusion equation . The estimates for the error between the exact solution and an upwind finite volume approximation to the solution are derived in the -norm in the situation, where the diffusion parameter is smaller or comparable to the mesh size. Numerical experiments underline the theoretical results. Received February 25, 1999 / Revised version received July 6, 1999 / Published online August 2, 2000