Error estimates for a mixed finite element discretization of some degenerate parabolic equations

We consider a numerical scheme for a class of degenerate parabolic equations, including both slow and fast diffusion cases. A particular example in this sense is the Richards equation modeling the flow in porous media. The numerical scheme is based on the mixed finite element method (MFEM) in space, and is of one step implicit in time. The lowest order Raviart–Thomas elements are used. Here we extend the results in Radu et al. (SIAM J Numer Anal 42:1452–1478, 2004), Schneid et al. (Numer Math 98:353–370, 2004) to a more general framework, by allowing for both types of degeneracies. We derive error estimates in terms of the discretization parameters and show the convergence of the scheme. The features of the MFEM, especially of the lowest order Raviart–Thomas elements, are now fully exploited in the proof of the convergence. The paper is concluded by numerical examples.     

Error estimates for mixed finite element approximations of the viscoelasticity wave equation

This paper studies mixed finite element approximations to the solution of the viscoelasticity wave equation. Two new transformations are introduced and a corresponding system of first‐order differential‐integral equations is derived. The semi‐discrete and full‐discrete mixed finite element methods are then proposed for the problem based on the Raviart–Thomas–Nedelec spaces. The optimal error estimates in L²‐norm are obtained for the semi‐discrete and full‐discrete mixed approximations of the general viscoelasticity wave equation. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Error estimates for the finite volume discretization for the porous medium equation

We analyze the convergence of a numerical scheme for a class of degenerate parabolic problems modelling reactions in porous media, and involving a nonlinear, possibly vanishing diffusion. The scheme involves the Kirchhoff transformation of the regularized nonlinearity, as well as an Euler implicit time stepping and triangle based finite volumes. We prove the convergence of the approach by giving error estimates in terms of the discretization and regularization parameter.     

Error estimates of H^1-Galerkin mixed finite element method for Schrodinger equation

An H1-Galerkin mixed finite element method is discussed for a class of second order SchrSdinger equation. Optimal error estimates of semidiscrete schemes are derived for problems in one space dimension. At the same time, optimal error estimates are derived for fully discrete schemes. And it is showed that the H1-Galerkin mixed finite element approximations have the same rate of convergence as in the classical mixed finite element methods without requiring the LBB consistency condition.     

Error indicators for the mortar finite element discretization of the Laplace equation

The mortar technique turns out to be well adapted to handle mesh adaptivity in finite elements, since it allows for working with nonnecessarily compatible discretizations on the elements of a nonconforming partition of the initial domain. The aim of this paper is to extend the numerical analysis of residual error indicators to this type of methods for a model problem and to check their efficiency thanks to some numerical experiments.

     

Error estimates of H 1-Galerkin mixed finite element method for Schrödinger equation

An H^1-Galerkin mixed finite element method is discussed for a class of second order SchrSdinger equation. Optimal error estimates of semidiscrete schemes are derived for problems in one space dimension. At the same time, optimal error estimates are derived for fully discrete schemes. And it is showed that the H1-Galerkin mixed finite element approximations have the same rate of convergence as in the classical mixed finite element methods without requiring the LBB consistency condition.     

Error estimates for mixed finite element methods for nonlinear parabolic problems

We consider a class of mixed finite element methods for nonlinear parabolic problems over a plane domain. The finite element spaces taken are Raviart-Thomas spaces of index k, k ? 0. We obtain optimal order L²- and almost optimal order L^∞-error estimates for the finite element solution and order optimal L²-error estimates for its gradient. We also derive the error estimates for the time derivatives of the solution. Our results extend those previously obtained by Johnson and Thomée for the corresponding linear problems with k ? 1.     

Error analysis of a mixed finite element method for the Cahn-Hilliard equation

Summary. We propose and analyze a semi-discrete and a fully discrete mixed finite element method for the Cahn-Hilliard equation u_t + (u–^–1f(u)) = 0, where > 0 is a small parameter. Error estimates which are quasi-optimal order in time and optimal order in space are shown for the proposed methods under minimum regularity assumptions on the initial data and the domain. In particular, it is shown that all error bounds depend on only in some lower polynomial order for small . The cruxes of our analysis are to establish stability estimates for the discrete solutions, to use a spectrum estimate result of Alikakos and Fusco [2], and Chen [15] to prove a discrete counterpart of it for a linearized Cahn-Hilliard operator to handle the nonlinear term on a stretched time grid. The ideas and techniques developed in this paper also enable us to prove convergence of the fully discrete finite element solution to the solution of the Hele-Shaw (Mullins-Sekerka) problem as 0 in [29].Mathematics Subject Classification (1991): 65M60, 65M12, 65M15, 35B25, 35K57, 35Q99, 53A10Acknowledgments. The first author would like to thank Nicholas Alikakos for explaining all the fascinating properties of the Allen-Cahn and Cahn-Hilliard equations to him. He would also like to thank Nicholas Alikakos and Xinfu Chen for answering his questions regarding the spectrum estimate in Proposition 1. The second author gratefully acknowledges financial support by the DFG.     

Error estimates of mixed finite element methods for quadratic optimal control problems

In this paper, we investigate the error estimates for the solutions of optimal control problems by mixed finite element methods. The state and costate are approximated by Raviart-Thomas mixed finite element spaces of order k and the control is approximated by piecewise polynomials of order k. Under the special constraint set, we will show that the control variable can be smooth in the whole domain. We derive error estimates of optimal order both for the state variables and the control variable.     

Error estimates for mixed finite element approximations to a linear Stefan problem

We introduce a semidiscrete mixed finite element approximation for the single-phase linear Stefan problem and show the unique existence of the approximation. And the optimal rate of convergence inL ² andH ¹ norms are derived.     

Error estimates of triangular mixed finite element methods for quasilinear optimal control problems

The goal of this paper is to study a mixed finite element approximation of the general convex optimal control problems governed by quasilinear elliptic partial differential equations. The state and co-state are approximated by the lowest order Raviart-Thomas mixed finite element spaces and the control is approximated by piecewise constant functions. We derive a priori error estimates both for the state variables and the control variable. Finally, some numerical examples are given to demonstrate the theoretical results.     

Error estimates for a finite element-finite volume discretization of convection-diffusion equations

We consider a time-dependent linear convection-diffusion equation. This equation is approximated by a combined finite element-finite volume method: the diffusion term is discretized by Crouzeix-Raviart piecewise linear finite elements, and the convection term by upwind barycentric finite volumes on a triangular grid. An implicit Euler approach is used for time discretization. It is shown that the error associated with this scheme, measured by a discrete L^∞-L²- and L²-H¹-norm, respectively, decays linearly with the mesh size and the time step. This result holds without any link between mesh size and time step. The dependence of the corresponding error bound on the diffusion coefficient is completely explicit.     

New estimates of mixed finite element method for fourth‐order wave equation

The conforming bilinear mixed finite element method is established for a fourth‐order wave equation. By applying the interpolation and projection simultaneously, the superclose and superconvergence results of order O (h ²) for the original variable u and intermediate variable p  =? a ₁(X )Δu in H¹‐norm are achieved for the semi‐discrete and fully discrete schemes, respectively (where a ₁(X ) is the coefficient appeared in the equation). The distinct advantage of this method is that it can reduce the smoothness of solutions u ,u _t , and p compared with the existing literature for getting optimal estimates alone. At last, some numerical results are carried out to validate the theoretical analysis. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Least-squares mixed finite element methods for non-selfadjoint elliptic problems: I. Error estimates

Summary. A least-squares mixed finite element method for general second-order non-selfadjoint elliptic problems in two- and three-dimensional domains is formulated and analyzed. The finite element spaces for the primary solution approximation and the flux approximation consist of piecewise polynomials of degree and respectively. The method is mildly nonconforming on the boundary. The cases and are studied. It is proved that the method is not subject to the LBB-condition. Optimal - and -error estimates are derived for regular finite element partitions. Numerical experiments, confirming the theoretical rates of convergence, are presented. Received October 15, 1993 / Revised version received August 2, 1994     

Error estimates for the finite element solution of variational inequalities

Summary We analyze the convergence of finite element approximations of some variational inequalities namely the obstacle problem and the unilateral problem. OptimalO(h) andO(h^3/2–) error bounds for the obstacle problem (for linear and quadratic elements) and anO(h) error bound for the unilateral problem (with linear elements) are proved.Supported in part by the Institut de Recherche d'Informatique et d'Automatique and by National Science Foundation grant MCS 75-09457     

Error estimates for the finite element solution of variational inequalities

Summary We study the mixed finite element approximation of variational inequalities, taking as model problems the so called obstacle problem and unilateral problem. Optimal error bounds are obtained in both cases.Supported in part by National Science Foundation grant MCS 75-09457, and by Office of Naval Research grant N00014-76-C-0369     

Localized pointwise error estimates for mixed finite element methods

In this paper we give weighted, or localized, pointwise error estimates which are valid for two different mixed finite element methods for a general second-order linear elliptic problem and for general choices of mixed elements for simplicial meshes. These estimates, similar in spirit to those recently proved by Schatz for the basic Galerkin finite element method for elliptic problems, show that the dependence of the pointwise errors in both the scalar and vector variables on the derivative of the solution is mostly local in character or conversely that the global dependence of the pointwise errors is weak. This localization is more pronounced for higher order elements. Our estimates indicate that localization occurs except when the lowest order Brezzi-Douglas-Marini elements are used, and we provide computational examples showing that the error is indeed not localized when these elements are employed.

     

Error estimates for a mixed finite volume method for the p-Laplacian problem

In this work we propose and analyze a mixed finite volume method for the p-Laplacian problem which is based on the lowest order Raviart–Thomas element for the vector variable and the P1 nonconforming element for the scalar variable. It is shown that this method can be reduced to a P1 nonconforming finite element method for the scalar variable only. One can then recover the vector approximation from the computed scalar approximation in a virtually cost-free manner. Optimal a priori error estimates are proved for both approximations by the quasi-norm techniques. We also derive an implicit error estimator of Bank–Weiser type which is based on the local Neumann problems.This work was supported by the Post-doctoral Fellowship Program of Korea Science & Engineering Foundation (KOSEF).     

Error estimates for the combinedh andp versions of the finite element method

Summary In theh-version of the finite element method, convergence is achieved by refining the mesh while keeping the degree of the elements fixed. On the other hand, thep-version keeps the mesh fixed and increases the degree of the elements. In this paper, we prove estimates showing the simultaneous dependence of the order of approximation on both the element degrees and the mesh. In addition, it is shown that a proper design of the mesh and distribution of element degrees lead to a better than polynomial rate of convergence with respect to the number of degrees of freedom, even in the presence of corner singularities. Numerical results comparing theh-version,p-version, and combinedh-p-version for a one dimensional problem are presented.     

Error estimates for the finite element solution of quasilinear obstacle problems *

This paper focusses on quasilinear second order differential operators. Concerning their strong monotonicity and Lipschitz continuity sufficient conditions are stated which are both explicit and easy to show. Applying these functional analytic properties to nonlinear obstacle problems we prove error estimates in energy norm for the finite element method with

linear trial functions.