Superconvergent DPG methods for second order elliptic problems

We consider DPG methods with optimal test functions and broken test spaces based on ultra-weak formulations of general second order elliptic problems. Under some assumptions on the regularity of solutions of the model problem and its adjoint, superconvergence for the scalar field variable is achieved by either increasing the polynomial degree in the corresponding approximation space by one or by a local postprocessing. We provide a uniform analysis that allows to treat different test norms. Particularly, we show that in the presence of convection only the quasi-optimal test norm leads to higher convergence rates, whereas other norms considered do not. Moreover, we also prove that our DPG method delivers the best $L^2$ approximation of the scalar field variable up to higher order terms, which is the first theoretical explanation of an observation made previously by different authors. Numerical studies that support our theoretical findings are presented

Superconvergence in a DPG method for an ultra-weak formulation

In this work we study a DPG method for an ultra-weak variational formulation of a reaction-diffusion problem. We improve existing a priori convergence results by sharpening an approximation result for the numerical flux. By duality arguments we show that higher convergence rates for the scalar field variable are obtained if the polynomial order of the corresponding approximation space is increased by one. Furthermore, we introduce a simple elementwise postprocessing of the solution and prove superconvergence. Numerical experiments indicate that the obtained results are valid beyond the underlying model problem.Comment: title chang

Robust coupling of DPG and BEM for a singularly perturbed transmission problem

We consider a transmission problem consisting of a singularly perturbed reaction diffusion equation on a bounded domain and the Laplacian in the exterior, connected through standard transmission conditions. We establish a DPG scheme coupled with Galerkin boundary elements for its discretization, and prove its robustness for the field variables in so-called balanced norms. Our coupling scheme is the one from [F\"uhrer, Heuer, Karkulik: On the coupling of DPG and BEM, arXiv:1508.00630], adapted to the singularly perturbed case by using the scheme from [Heuer, Karkulik: A robust DPG method for singularly perturbed reaction diffusion problems, arXiv:1509.07560]. Essential feature of our method is that optimal test functions have to be computed only locally. We report on various numerical experiments in two dimensions.Comment: Update of numerical example

A linear Uzawa-type solver for nonlinear transmission problems

We propose an Uzawa-type iteration for the Johnson-N\'ed\'elec formulation of a Laplace-type transmission problem with possible (strongly monotone) nonlinearity in the interior domain. In each step, we sequentially solve one BEM for the weakly-singular integral equation associated with the Laplace-operator and one FEM for the linear Yukawa equation. In particular, the nonlinearity is only evaluated to build the right-hand side of the Yukawa equation. We prove that the proposed method leads to linear convergence with respect to the number of Uzawa iterations. Moreover, while the current analysis of a direct FEM-BEM discretization of the Johnson-N\'ed\'elec formulation requires some restrictions on the ellipticity (resp. strong monotonicity constant) in the interior domain, our Uzawa-type solver avoids such assumptions

A wirebasket preconditioner for the mortar boundary element method

We present and analyze a preconditioner of the additive Schwarz type for the mortar boundary element method. As a basic splitting, on each subdomain we separate the degrees of freedom related to its boundary from the inner degrees of freedom. The corresponding wirebasket-type space decomposition is stable up to logarithmic terms. For the blocks that correspond to the inner degrees of freedom standard preconditioners for the hypersingular integral operator on open boundaries can be used. For the boundary and interface parts as well as the Lagrangian multiplier space, simple diagonal preconditioners are optimal. Our technique applies to quasi-uniform and non-uniform meshes of shape-regular elements. Numerical experiments on triangular and quadrilateral meshes confirm theoretical bounds for condition and MINRES iteration numbers

Trace operators of the bi-Laplacian and applications

We study several trace operators and spaces that are related to the bi-Laplacian. They are motivated by the development of ultraweak formulations for the bi-Laplace equation with homogeneous Dirichlet condition, but are also relevant to describe conformity of mixed approximations. Our aim is to have well-posed (ultraweak) formulations that assume low regularity, under the condition of an $L_2$ right-hand side function. We pursue two ways of defining traces and corresponding integration-by-parts formulas. In one case one obtains a non-closed space. This can be fixed by switching to the Kirchhoff-Love traces from [F\"uhrer, Heuer, Niemi, An ultraweak formulation of the Kirchhoff-Love plate bending model and DPG approximation, Math. Comp., 88 (2019)]. Using different combinations of trace operators we obtain two well-posed formulations. For both of them we report on numerical experiments with the DPG method and optimal test functions. In this paper we consider two and three space dimensions. However, with the exception of a given counterexample in an appendix (related to the non-closedness of a trace space), our analysis applies to any space dimension larger than or equal to two.Comment: 26 pages, 3 figure

Ultraweak formulation of linear PDEs in nondivergence form and DPG approximation

We develop and analyze an ultraweak formulation of linear PDEs in nondivergence form where the coefficients satisfy the Cordes condition. Based on the ultraweak formulation we propose discontinuous Petrov--Galerkin (DPG) methods. We investigate Fortin operators for the fully discrete schemes and provide a posteriori estimators for the methods under consideration. Numerical experiments are presented in the case of uniform and adaptive mesh-refinement

Multilevel decompositions and norms for negative order Sobolev spaces

We consider multilevel decompositions of piecewise constants on simplicial meshes that are stable in $H^{-s}$ for $s\in (0,1)$. Proofs are given in the case of uniformly and locally refined meshes. Our findings can be applied to define local multilevel diagonal preconditioners that lead to bounded condition numbers (independent of the mesh-sizes and levels) and have optimal computational complexity. Furthermore, we discuss multilevel norms based on local (quasi-)projection operators that allow the efficient evaluation of negative order Sobolev norms. A discussion on several extensions and applications concludes this article

First-Order Least-Squares Method for the Obstacle Problem

We define and analyse a least-squares finite element method for a first-order reformulation of the obstacle problem. Moreover, we derive variational inequalities that are based on similar but non-symmetric bilinear forms. A priori error estimates including the case of non-conforming convex sets are given and optimal convergence rates are shown for the lowest-order case. We provide also a posteriori bounds that can be be used as error indicators in an adaptive algorithm. Numerical studies are presented

A time-stepping DPG scheme for the heat equation

We introduce and analyze a discontinuous Petrov-Galerkin method with optimal test functions for the heat equation. The scheme is based on the backward Euler time stepping and uses an ultra-weak variational formulation at each time step. We prove the stability of the method for the field variables (the original unknown and its gradient weighted by the square root of the time step) and derive a C\'ea-type error estimate. For low-order approximation spaces this implies certain convergence orders when time steps are not too small in comparison with mesh sizes. Some numerical experiments are reported to support our theoretical results.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figure