A superconvergent local discontinuous Galerkin method for nonlinear two-point boundary-value problems

In this paper, we present and analyze a superconvergent and high order accurate local discontinuous Galerkin (LDG) method for nonlinear two-point boundary-value problems (BVPs) of the form u ^″ = f (t, u), which arise in a wide variety of engineering applications. We prove the L ² stability of the LDG scheme and optimal L ² error estimates for the solution and for the auxiliary variable that approximates the first-order derivative. The order of convergence is proved to be p +?1, when piecewise polynomials of degree at most p are used. Our numerical experiments demonstrate optimal rates of convergence. Moreover, we show that the derivatives of the LDG solutions are superconvergent with order p +?1 toward the derivatives of Gausss-Radau projections of the exact solutions. Finally, we prove that the LDG solutions are superconvergent with order p +?3/2 toward Gauss-Radau projections of the exact solutions. Our computational results indicate that the observed numerical superconvergence rate is p +?2. Our proofs are valid for arbitrary regular meshes using piecewise polynomials of degree p ≥?1 and for the periodic, Dirichlet, and mixed boundary conditions. All proofs are valid under the hypotheses of the existence and uniqueness theorem for BVPs. Several numerical results are presented to validate the theoretical results.