Instance Optimality of the Adaptive Maximum Strategy

In this paper, we prove that the standard adaptive finite element method with a (modified) maximum marking strategy is instance optimal for the total error, being the square root of the squared energy error plus the squared oscillation. This result will be derived in the model setting of Poisson’s equation on a polygon, linear finite elements, and conforming triangulations created by newest vertex bisection.     

Conforming finite element methods for the von Kármán equations

In this paper, we consider canonical von Kármán equations that describe the bending of thin elastic plates defined on polygonal domains. A conforming finite element method is employed to approximate the displacement and Airy stress functions. Optimal order error estimates in energy, H ¹ and L ² norms are deduced. The results of numerical experiments confirm the theoretical results obtained.     

A weak Galerkin finite element method for the stokes equations

This paper introduces a weak Galerkin (WG) finite element method for the Stokes equations in the primal velocity-pressure formulation. This WG method is equipped with stable finite elements consisting of usual polynomials of degree k≥1 for the velocity and polynomials of degree k?1 for the pressure, both are discontinuous. The velocity element is enhanced by polynomials of degree k?1 on the interface of the finite element partition. All the finite element functions are discontinuous for which the usual gradient and divergence operators are implemented as distributions in properly-defined spaces. Optimal-order error estimates are established for the corresponding numerical approximation in various norms. It must be emphasized that the WG finite element method is designed on finite element partitions consisting of arbitrary shape of polygons or polyhedra which are shape regular.     

Nonconforming finite element approximations of the Steklov eigenvalue problem and its lower bound approximations

The paper deals with error estimates and lower bound approximations of the Steklov eigenvalue problems on convex or concave domains by nonconforming finite element methods. We consider four types of nonconforming finite elements: Crouzeix-Raviart, Q ₁ ^rot , EQ ₁ ^rot and enriched Crouzeix-Raviart. We first derive error estimates for the nonconforming finite element approximations of the Steklov eigenvalue problem and then give the analysis of lower bound approximations. Some numerical results are presented to validate our theoretical results.     

A new mixed finite element method based on the Crank-Nicolson scheme for Burgers’ equation

In this paper, a new mixed finite element method is used to approximate the solution as well as the flux of the 2D Burgers’ equation. Based on this new formulation, we give the corresponding stable conforming finite element approximation for the P₀² ? P₁ pair by using the Crank-Nicolson time-discretization scheme. Optimal error estimates are obtained. Finally, numerical experiments show the efficiency of the new mixed method and justify the theoretical results.     

On the error bounds of nonconforming finite elements

We prove that the error estimates of a large class of nonconforming finite elements are dominated by their approximation errors, which means that the well-known Cea's lemma is still valid for these nonconforming finite element methods. Furthermore, we derive the error estimates in both energy and L2 norms under the regularity assumption u ∈ H1+s(Ω) with any s 0. The extensions to other related problems are possible.     

Numerical analysis of a Stokes interface problem based on formulation using the characteristic function

Numerical analysis of a model Stokes interface problem with the homogeneous Dirichlet boundary condition is considered. The interface condition is interpreted as an additional singular force field to the Stokes equations using the characteristic function. The finite element method is applied after introducing a regularization of the singular source term. Consequently, the error is divided into the regularization and discretization parts which are studied separately. As a result, error estimates of order h^1/2 in H¹ × L² norm for the velocity and pressure, and of order h in L² norm for the velocity are derived. Those theoretical results are also verified by numerical examples.     

Galerkin finite element method and error analysis for the fractional cable equation

The cable equation is one of the most fundamental equations for modeling neuronal dynamics. These equations can be derived from the Nernst-Planck equation for electro-diffusion in smooth homogeneous cylinders. Fractional cable equations are introduced to model electrotonic properties of spiny neuronal dendrites. In this paper, a Galerkin finite element method(GFEM) is presented for the numerical simulation of the fractional cable equation(FCE) involving two integro-differential operators. The proposed method is based on a semi-discrete finite difference approximation in time and Galerkin finite element method in space. We prove that the numerical solution converges to the exact solution with order O(τ+h^l+1) for the lth-order finite element method. Further, a novel Galerkin finite element approximation for improving the order of convergence is also proposed. Finally, some numerical results are given to demonstrate the theoretical analysis. The results show that the numerical solution obtained by the improved Galerkin finite element approximation converges to the exact solution with order O(τ²+h^l+1).     

Mixed Methods for Optimal Control Problems

In this paper, we investigate a posteriori error estimates of amixed finite elementmethod for elliptic optimal control problems with an integral constraint. The gradient for ourmethod belongs to the square integrable space instead of the classical H(div; Ω) space. The state and co-state are approximated by the P ₀ ² -P₁ (velocity–pressure) pair and the control variable is approximated by piecewise constant functions. Using duality argument method and energy method, we derive the residual a posteriori error estimates for all variables.     

New a posteriori L∞(L2) and L2(L2)-error estimates of mixed finite element methods for general nonlinear parabolic optimal control problems

We study new a posteriori error estimates of the mixed finite element methods for general optimal control problems governed by nonlinear parabolic equations. The state and the co-state are discretized by the high order Raviart-Thomas mixed finite element spaces and the control is approximated by piecewise constant functions. We derive a posteriori error estimates in L^∞(J; L²Ω)-norm and L²(J; L²Ω)-norm for both the state, the co-state and the control approximation. Such estimates, which seem to be new, are an important step towards developing a reliable adaptive mixed finite element approximation for optimal control problems. Finally, the performance of the posteriori error estimators is assessed by two numerical examples.     

A posteriori error analysis of multipoint flux mixed finite element methods for interface problems

In this paper, the multipoint flux mixed finite element method is used to approximate the flux of two-dimensional elliptic interface problems. Within the class of modified quasi-monotonically distributed coefficients, we derive uniformly robust residual-type a posteriori error estimators for the flux error. Based on the residual-type estimator, we further develop robust implicit and explicit recovery-type estimators through gradient recovery in H(curl) conforming finite element spaces. Numerical experiments are presented to support the theoretical results.     

Uniform convergence of Galerkin‐multigrid methods for nonconforming finite elements for second‐order problems with less than full elliptic regularity

In this article we prove uniform convergence estimates for the recently developed Galerkin‐multigrid methods for nonconforming finite elements for second‐order problems with less than full elliptic regularity. These multigrid methods are defined in terms of the “Galerkin approach,” where quadratic forms over coarse grids are constructed using the quadratic form on the finest grid and iterated coarse‐to‐fine intergrid transfer operators. Previously, uniform estimates were obtained for problems with full elliptic regularity, whereas these estimates are derived with less than full elliptic regularity here. Applications to the nonconforming P₁, rotated Q₁, and Wilson finite elements are analyzed. The result applies to the mixed method based on finite elements that are equivalent to these nonconforming elements. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 18: 203–217, 2002; DOI 10.1002/num.10004     

Unconditional and optimal <Emphasis Type="Bold">H</Emphasis><Superscript>2</Superscript>-error estimates of two linear and conservative finite difference schemes for the Klein-Gordon-Schrödinger equation in high dimensions

The focus of this paper is on the optimal error bounds of two finite difference schemes for solving the d-dimensional (d = 2, 3) nonlinear Klein-Gordon-Schrödinger (KGS) equations. The proposed finite difference schemes not only conserve the mass and energy in the discrete level but also are efficient in practical computation because only two linear systems need to be solved at each time step. Besides the standard energy method, an induction argument as well as a ‘lifting’ technique are introduced to establish rigorously the optimal H ²-error estimates without any restrictions on the grid ratios, while the previous works either are not rigorous enough or often require certain restriction on the grid ratios. The convergence rates of the proposed schemes are proved to be at O(h ² + τ ²) with mesh-size h and time step τ in the discrete H ²-norm. The analysis method can be directly extended to other linear finite difference schemes for solving the KGS equations in high dimensions. Numerical results are reported to confirm the theoretical analysis for the proposed finite difference schemes.     

On the Discrete Poincaré–Friedrichs Inequalities for Nonconforming Approximations of the Sobolev Space H 1

We present a direct proof of the discrete Poincaré–Friedrichs inequalities for a class of nonconforming approximations of the Sobolev space H ¹(Ω), indicate optimal values of the constants in these inequalities, and extend the discrete Friedrichs inequality onto domains only bounded in one direction. We consider a polygonal domain Ω in two or three space dimensions and its shape-regular simplicial triangulation. The nonconforming approximations of H ¹(Ω) consist of functions from H ¹ on each element such that the mean values of their traces on interelement boundaries coincide. The key idea is to extend the proof of the discrete Poincaré–Friedrichs inequalities for piecewise constant functions used in the finite volume method. The results have applications in the analysis of nonconforming numerical methods, such as nonconforming finite element or discontinuous Galerkin methods.     

Error Estimates for Barycentric Finite Volumes Combined with Nonconforming Finite Elements Applied to Nonlinear Convection-Diffusion Problems

The subject of the paper is the derivation of error estimates for the combined finite volume-finite element method used for the numerical solution of nonstationary nonlinear convection-diffusion problems. Here we analyze the combination of barycentric finite volumes associated with sides of triangulation with the piecewise linear nonconforming Crouzeix-Raviart finite elements. Under some assumptions on the regularity of the exact solution, the L ²(L ²) and L ²(H ¹) error estimates are established. At the end of the paper, some computational results are presented demonstrating the application of the method to the solution of viscous gas flow.     

HOW TO PROVE THE DISCRETE RELIABILITY FOR NONCONFORMING FINITE ELEMENT METHODS

Optimal convergence rates of adaptive finite element methods are well understood in terms of the axioms of adaptivity.One key ingredient is the discrete reliability of a residualbased a posteriori error estimator,which controls the error of two discrete finite element solutions based on two nested triangulations.In the error analysis of nonconforming finite element methods,like the Crouzeix-Raviart or Morley finite element schemes,the difference of the piecewise derivatives of discontinuous approximations to the distributional gradients of global Sobolev functions plays a dominant role and is the object of this paper.The nonconforming interpolation operator,which comes natural with the definition of the aforementioned nonconforming finite element in the sense of Ciarlet,allows for stability and approximation properties that enable direct proofs of the reliability for the residual that monitors the equilibrium condition.The novel approach of this paper is the suggestion of a right-inverse of this interpolation operator in conforming piecewise polynomials to design a nonconforming approximation of a given coarse-grid approximation on a refined triangulation.The results of this paper allow for simple proofs of the discrete reliability in any space dimension and multiply connected domains on general shape-regular triangulations beyond newest-vertex bisection of simplices.Particular attention is on optimal constants in some standard discrete estimates listed in the appendices.     

Stabilized finite element method for the viscoelastic Oldroyd fluid flows

In this paper, a new stabilized finite element method based on two local Gauss integrations is considered for the two-dimensional viscoelastic fluid motion equations, arising from the Oldroyd model for the non-Newtonian fluid flows. This new stabilized method presents attractive features such as being parameter-free, or being defined for non-edge-based data structures. It confirms that the lowest equal-order P ₁???P ₁ triangle element and Q ₁???Q ₁ quadrilateral element are compatible. Moreover, the long time stabilities and error estimates for the velocity in H ¹-norm and for the pressure in L ²-norm are obtained. Finally, some numerical experiments are performed, which show that the new method is applied to this model successfully and can save lots of computational cost compared with the standard ones.     

Analysis of some numerical methods on layer adapted meshes for singularly perturbed quasilinear systems

We consider a coupled system of first-order singularly perturbed quasilinear differential equations with given initial conditions. The leading term of each equation is multiplied by a distinct small positive parameter, which induces overlapping layers. The quasilinear system is discretized by using first and second order accurate finite difference schemes for which we derive general error estimates in the discrete maximum norm. As consequences of these error estimates we establish nodal convergence of O((N ^?1 lnN) ^p ),p=1,2, on the Shishkin mesh and O(N ^?p ),p=1,2, on the Bakhvalov mesh, where N is the number of mesh intervals and the convergence is robust in all of the parameters. Numerical computations are included which confirm the theoretical results.     

Nonconforming mixed finite element approximation to the stationary Navier-Stokes equations on anisotropic meshes

The main aim of this paper is to study the error estimates of a rectangular nonconforming finite element for the stationary Navier-Stokes equations under anisotropic meshes. That is, the nonconforming rectangular element is taken as approximation space for the velocity and the piecewise constant element for the pressure. The convergence analysis is presented and the optimal error estimates both in a broken H¹-norm for the velocity and in an L²-norm for the pressure are derived on anisotropic meshes.     

A priori error estimates of finite volume method for nonlinear optimal control problem

In this paper, we study a priori error estimates for the finite volume element approximation of nonlinear optimal control problem. The schemes use discretizations based on a finite volume method. For the variational inequality, we use the method of the variational discretization concept to obtain the control. Under some reasonable assumptions, we obtain some optimal order error estimates. The approximate order for the state, costate and control variables is O(h ²) or \(O\left( {{h^2}\sqrt {\left| {\ln h} \right|} } \right)\) in the sense of L ²-norm or L ^∞-norm. A numerical experiment is presented to test the theoretical results. Finally, we give some conclusions and future works.