65-XX NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
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This work concerns the approximation of the shape operator of smooth surfaces in $\mathbb{R}^{3}$ from polyhedral surfaces. We introduce two generalized shape operators that are vector-valued linear functionals on a Sobolev space of vector fields and can be rigorously defined on smooth and on polyhedral surfaces. We consider polyhedral surfaces that approximate smooth surfaces and prove two types of approximation estimates: one concerning the approximation of the generalized shape operators in the operator norm and one concerning the pointwise approximation of the (classic) shape operator, including mean and Gaussian curvature, principal curvatures, and principal curvature directions.
The estimates are confirmed by numerical experiments.
A new finite element method computes conductivity in some unstructured particle-reinforced composite material. The 2-phase material under consideration is composed of a poorly conducting matrix material filled by highly conducting circular inclusions which are randomly dispersed. The mathematical model is a Poisson-type problem with discontinuous coefficients. The discontinuities are huge in contrast and quantity.
The proposed method generalizes classical continuous piecewise affine finite elements to special computational meshes which encode the particles in a network structure. Important geometric parameters such as the volume fraction are preserved exactly.
The computational complexity of the resulting method is proportional to the number of inclusions and this is optimal in comparison to data complexity.
The discretization error is proportional to the particle distance and does not depend on the conductivity contrast in the medium.
This note constructs a local generalized finite element basis for elliptic problems with heterogeneous and highly varying diffusion tensor. The basis functions are solutions of local problems on vertex patches. The error of the corresponding generalized finite element method decays exponentially w.r.t. the number of element layers in the patches. Hence, on a uniform mesh of size H, patches of diameter log(1/H) are sufficient to preserve the convergence rates of the classical P1-FEM for the Poisson problem.
The analysis does not rely on regularity of the solution or scale separation in the coefficient.
The result justifies the use of the class of variational multiscale methods, introduced in [Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg., 196:2313--2324, 2007].
A Composite Finite Element Method approximates linear elliptic boundary value problems of Dirichlet type with discontinuous coefficients at possibly high contrast. The challenge is the discontinuity in the coefficient across some interface which is not necessarily resolved by the underlying finite element mesh. The method is non-conforming in the sense that shape functions preserve continuity across the interface only in an approximative way. However, the method allows to balance the non-conformity and the best approximation error in such a way that the total discretization error is optimal with regard to the mesh size and independent of contrast.