Numerical analysis of Lavrentiev-regularized state constrained elliptic control problems

In the present work, we apply semi-discretization proposed by the first author in [13] to Lavrentiev-regularized state constrained elliptic control problems. We extend the results of [17] and prove weak convergence of the adjoint states and multipliers of the regularized problems to their counterparts of the original problem. Further, we prove error estimates for finite element discretizations of the regularized problem and investigate the overall error imposed by the finite element discretization of the regularized problem compared to the continuous solution of the original problem. Finally we present numerical results which confirm our analytical findings

Numerical analysis of Lavrentiev-regularized state constrained elliptic control problems

In the present work, we apply semi-discretization proposed by the first author in [13] to Lavrentiev-regularized state constrained elliptic control problems. We extend the results of [17] and prove weak convergence of the adjoint states and multipliers of the regularized problems to their counterparts of the original problem. Further, we prove error estimates for finite element discretizations of the regularized problem and investigate the overall error imposed by the finite element discretization of the regularized problem compared to the continuous solution of the original problem. Finally we present numerical results which confirm our analytical findings

A priori error analysis for state constrained boundary control problems. Part II: Full discretization

This is the second of two papers concerned with a state-constrained optimal control problems with boundary control, where the state constraints are only imposed in an interior subdomain. We apply the virtual control concept introduced in [26] to regularize the problem. The arising regularized optimal control problem is discretized by finite elements and linear and continuous ansatz functions for the boundary control. In the first part of the work, we investigate the errors induced by the regularization and the discretization of the boundary control. The second part deals with the error arising from discretization of the PDE. Since the state constraints only appear in an inner subdomain, the obtained order of convergence exceeds the known results in the field of a priori analysis for state-constrained problems. The theoretical results are illustrated by numerical computations

Adaptive Methods for PDE-based Optimal Control with Pointwise Inequality Constraints

This work is devoted to the development of efficient numerical methods for a certain class of PDE-based optimization problems. The optimization is constraint by an elliptic PDE. In addition to prior work in this context pointwise inequality constraints on the control and state variable are considered. These problems are infinite dimensional and their solution can in general not be obtained exactly. Instead the solution of such problems means to find an approximate solution. This is done by (approximately) solving for some set of first order necessary optimality conditions. Hence an efficient algorithm has to find such an approximate solution with as little effort as possible while still being accurate enough for whatever the goal of the computation is. The work at hand contributes to this goal by deriving a posteriori error estimates with respect to a given functional. These estimates are required for two purposes, first, to generate efficient meshes for the solution of the PDEs required in the process of solving the necessary conditions. Second, to choose several parameters that occur in order to regularize the problems at hand in such a way that the regularization error is both small enough, to obtain a good result', and yet large enough to have easy to solve' problems. These a posteriori estimators are supplemented with a priori estimates in several cases where non have been available in the literature for the problem class under consideration. Finally, all theory and all heuristics will be substantiated with several numerical examples of different complexity

Finite Element Methods for Fourth Order Variational Inequalities

In this work we study finite element methods for fourth order variational inequalities. We begin with two model problems that lead to fourth order obstacle problems and a brief survey of finite element methods for these problems. Then we review the fundamental results including Sobolev spaces, existence and uniqueness results of variational inequalities, regularity results for biharmonic problems and fourth order obstacle problems, and finite element methods for the biharmonic problem. In Chapter 2 we also include three types of enriching operators which are useful in the convergence analysis. In Chapter 3 we study finite element methods for the displacement obstacle problem of clamped Kirchhoff plates. A unified convergence analysis is provided for $C^1$ finite element methods, classical nonconforming finite element methods and $C^0$ interior penalty methods. The key ingredient in the error analysis is the introduction of the auxiliary obstacle problem. An optimal $O(h)$ error estimate in the energy norm is obtained for convex domains. We also address the approximations of the coincidence set and the free boundary. In Chapter 4 we study a Morley finite element method and a quadratic $C^0$ interior penalty method for the displacement obstacle problem of clamped Kirchhoff plates with general Dirichlet boundary conditions on general polygonal domains. We prove the magnitudes of the errors in the energy norm and the $L^{\infty}$ norm are $O(h^{\alpha})$, where $\alpha \u3e 1/2$ is determined by the interior angles of the polygonal domain. Numerical results are also presented to illustrate the performance of the methods and verify the theoretical results obtained in Chapter 3 and Chapter 4. In Chapter 5 we consider an elliptic optimal control problem with state constraints. By formulating the problem as a fourth order obstacle problem with the boundary condition of simply supported plates, we study a quadratic $C^0$ interior penalty method and derive the error estimates in the energy norm based on the framework we introduced in Chapter 3. The rate of convergence is derived for both quasi-uniform meshes and graded meshes. Numerical results presented in this chapter confirm our theoretical results