A Refined Finite Element Convergence Theory for Highly Indefinite Helmholtz Problems

Abstract.: It is well known that standard h-version finite element discretisations using lowest order elements for Helmholtz' equation suffer from the following stability condition: 's'sThe mesh width h of the finite element mesh has to satisfy k 2 h≲1'', where k denotes the wave number. This condition rules out the reliable numerical solution of Helmholtz equation in three dimensions for large wave numbers k≳50. In our paper, we will present a refined finite element theory for highly indefinite Helmholtz problems where the stability of the discretisation can be checked through an 's'salmost invariance'' condition. As an application, we will consider a one-dimensional finite element space for the Helmholtz equation and apply our theory to prove stability under the weakened condition hk≲1 and optimal convergence estimate

On stability of discretizations of the Helmholtz equation (extended version)

We review the stability properties of several discretizations of the Helmholtz equation at large wavenumbers. For a model problem in a polygon, a complete $k$-explicit stability (including $k$-explicit stability of the continuous problem) and convergence theory for high order finite element methods is developed. In particular, quasi-optimality is shown for a fixed number of degrees of freedom per wavelength if the mesh size $h$ and the approximation order $p$ are selected such that $kh/p$ is sufficiently small and $p = O(\log k)$, and, additionally, appropriate mesh refinement is used near the vertices. We also review the stability properties of two classes of numerical schemes that use piecewise solutions of the homogeneous Helmholtz equation, namely, Least Squares methods and Discontinuous Galerkin (DG) methods. The latter includes the Ultra Weak Variational Formulation

A Posteriori Error Estimation for Highly Indefinite Helmholtz Problems

We develop a new analysis for residual-type aposteriori error estimation for a class of highly indefinite elliptic boundary value problems by considering the Helmholtz equation at high wavenumber as our model problem. We employ a classical conforming Galerkin discretization by using hp-finite elements. In [Convergence analysis for finite element discretizations of the Helmholtz equation with Dirichlet-to-Neumann boundary conditions, Math. Comp., 79 (2010), pp.1871-1914], Melenk and Sauter introduced an hp-finite element discretization which leads to a stable and pollution-free discretization of the Helmholtz equation under a mild resolution condition which requires only degrees of freedom, where denotes the spatial dimension. In the present paper, we will introduce an aposteriori error estimator for this problem and prove its reliability and efficiency. The constants in these estimates become independent of the, possibly, high wavenumber provided the aforementioned resolution condition for stability is satisfied. We emphasize that, by using the classical theory, the constants in the aposteriori estimates would be amplified by a factor

Wave number-Explicit Analysis for Galerkin Discretizations of Lossy Helmholtz Problems

We present a stability and convergence theory for the lossy Helmholtz equation and its Galerkin discretization. The boundary conditions are of Robin type. All estimates are explicit with respect to the real and imaginary part of the complex wave number $\zeta\in\mathbb{C}$, $\operatorname{Re}\zeta\geq0$, $\left\vert \zeta\right\vert \geq1$. For the extreme cases $\zeta \in\operatorname*{i}\mathbb{R}$ and $\zeta\in\mathbb{R}_{\geq0}$, the estimates coincide with the existing estimates in the literature and exhibit a seamless transition between these cases in the right complex half plane.Comment: 29 pages, 1 figur