Polynomial-degree-robust a posteriori estimates in a unified setting for conforming, nonconforming, discontinuous Galerkin, and mixed discretizations

International audienceWe present equilibrated flux a posteriori error estimates in a unified setting for conforming, nonconforming, discontinuous Galerkin, and mixed finite element discretizations of the two-dimensional Poisson problem. Relying on the equilibration by mixed finite element solution of patchwise Neumann problems, the estimates are guaranteed, locally computable, locally efficient, and robust with respect to polynomial degree. Maximal local overestimation is guaranteed as well. Numerical experiments suggest asymptotic exactness for the incomplete interior penalty discontinuous Galerkin scheme

Adaptive inexact Newton methods with a posteriori stopping criteria for nonlinear diffusion PDEs

International audienceWe consider nonlinear algebraic systems resulting from numerical discretizations of nonlinear partial differential equations of diffusion type. To solve these systems, some iterative nonlinear solver, and, on each step of this solver, some iterative linear solver are used. We derive adaptive stopping criteria for both iterative solvers. Our criteria are based on an a posteriori error estimate which distinguishes the different error components, namely the discretization error, the linearization error, and the algebraic error. We stop the iterations whenever the corresponding error does no longer affect the overall error significantly. Our estimates also yield a guaranteed upper bound on the overall error at each step of the nonlinear and linear solvers. We prove the (local) efficiency and robustness of the estimates with respect to the size of the nonlinearity owing, in particular, to the error measure involving the dual norm of the residual. Our developments hinge on equilibrated flux reconstructions and yield a general framework. We show how to apply this framework to various discretization schemes like finite elements, nonconforming finite elements, discontinuous Galerkin, finite volumes, and mixed finite elements; to different linearizations like fixed point and Newton; and to arbitrary iterative linear solvers. Numerical experiments for the $p$-Laplacian illustrate the tight overall error control and important computational savings achieved in our approach

Computational Engineering

The focus of this Computational Engineering Workshop was on the mathematical foundation of state-of-the-art and emerging finite element methods in engineering analysis. The 52 participants included mathematicians and engineers with shared interest on discontinuous Galerkin or Petrov-Galerkin methods and other generalized nonconforming or mixed finite element methods

A-posteriori error estimates for the localized reduced basis multi-scale method

We present a localized a-posteriori error estimate for the localized reduced basis multi-scale (LRBMS) method [Albrecht, Haasdonk, Kaulmann, Ohlberger (2012): The localized reduced basis multiscale method]. The LRBMS is a combination of numerical multi-scale methods and model reduction using reduced basis methods to efficiently reduce the computational complexity of parametric multi-scale problems with respect to the multi-scale parameter $\varepsilon$ and the online parameter $\mu$ simultaneously. We formulate the LRBMS based on a generalization of the SWIPDG discretization presented in [Ern, Stephansen, Vohralik (2010): Guaranteed and robust discontinuous Galerkin a posteriori error estimates for convection-diffusion-reaction problems] on a coarse partition of the domain that allows for any suitable discretization on the fine triangulation inside each coarse grid element. The estimator is based on the idea of a conforming reconstruction of the discrete diffusive flux, that can be computed using local information only. It is offline/online decomposable and can thus be efficiently used in the context of model reduction

The Prager-Synge theorem in reconstruction based a posteriori error estimation

In this paper we review the hypercircle method of Prager and Synge. This theory inspired several studies and induced an active research in the area of a posteriori error analysis. In particular, we review the Braess--Sch\"oberl error estimator in the context of the Poisson problem. We discuss adaptive finite element schemes based on two variants of the estimator and we prove the convergence and optimality of the resulting algorithms

Space-time Methods for Time-dependent Partial Differential Equations

Modern discretizations of time-dependent PDEs consider the full problem in the space-time cylinder and aim to overcome limitations of classical approaches such as the method of lines (first discretize in space and then solve the resulting ODE) and the Rothe method (first discretize in time and then solve the PDE). A main advantage of a holistic space-time method is the direct access to space-time adaptivity and to the backward problem (required for the dual problem in optimization or error control). Moreover, this allows for parallel solution strategies simultaneously in time and space. Several space-time concepts where proposed (different conforming and nonconforming space-time finite elements, the parareal method, wavefront relaxation etc.) but this topic has become a rapidly growing field in numerical analysis and scientific computing. In this workshop the focus is the development of adaptive and flexible space-time discretization methods for solving parabolic and hyperbolic space-time partial differential equations

Guaranteed and robust a posteriori error estimates and balancing discretization and linearization errors for monotone nonlinear problems

International audienceWe derive a posteriori error estimates for a class of second-order monotone quasi-linear diffusion-type problems approximated by piecewise affine, continuous finite elements. Our estimates yield a guaranteed and fully computable upper bound on the error measured by the dual norm of the residual, as well as a global error lower bound, up to a generic constant independent of the nonlinear operator. They are thus fully robust with respect to the nonlinearity, thanks to the choice of the error measure. They are also locally efficient, albeit in a different norm, and hence suitable for adaptive mesh refinement. Moreover, they allow to distinguish, estimate separately, and compare the discretization and linearization errors. Hence, the iterative (Newton--Raphson, quasi-Newton) linearization can be stopped whenever the linearization error drops to the level at which it does not affect significantly the overall error. This can lead to important computational savings, as performing an excessive number of unnecessary linearization iterations can be avoided. Numerical experiments for the $p$-Laplacian illustrate the theoretical developments