| Abstract: | We consider a finite element discretization of the primal first‐order least‐squares mixed formulation of the second‐order elliptic problem. The unknown variables are displacement and flux, which are approximated by equal‐order elements of the usual continuous element and the normal continuous element, respectively. We show that the error bounds for all variables are optimal. In addition, a field‐based least‐squares finite element method is proposed for the 3D‐magnetostatic problem, where both magnetic field and magnetic flux are taken as two independent variables which are approximated by the tangential continuous and the normal continuous elements, respectively. Coerciveness and optimal error bounds are obtained. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2004. |
