High accuracy methods for eigenvalues of elliptic operators by nonconforming elements

TL;DR

This paper introduces three high-accuracy eigenvalue approximation methods for second order elliptic operators using nonconforming finite elements, leveraging superconvergence and asymptotic expansions for improved precision.

Contribution

It develops new superconvergence analysis and high-accuracy extrapolation techniques for nonconforming elements based on RT element properties, enhancing eigenvalue approximation accuracy.

Findings

Superconvergence results improve from half to full order for involved elements.

Asymptotic expansions enable high-accuracy eigenvalue extrapolation.

A posteriori error estimators facilitate effective post-processing improvements.

Abstract

In this paper, three high-accuracy methods for eigenvalues of second order elliptic operators are proposed by using the nonconforming Crouzeix-Raviart(CR for short) element and the nonconforming enriched Crouzeix-Raviart(ECR for short) element. They are based on a crucial full one order superconvergence of the first order mixed Raviart-Thomas(RT for short) element. The main ingredient of such a superconvergence analysis is to employ a discrete Helmholtz decomposition of the difference between the canonical interpolation and the finite element solution of the RT element. In particular, it allows for some vital cancellation between terms in one key sum of boundary terms. Consequently, a full one order superconvergence follows from a special relation between the CR element and the RT element, and the equivalence between the ECR element and the RT element for these two nonconforming elements. These superconvergence results improve those in literature from a half order to a full one order for the RT element, the CR element and the ECR element. Based on the aforementioned superconvergence of the RT element, asymptotic expansions of eigenvalues are established and employed to achieve high accuracy extrapolation methods for these two nonconforming elements. In contrast to a classic analysis in literature, the novelty herein is to use not only the canonical interpolations of these nonconforming elements but also that of the RT element to analyze such asymptotic expansions. Based on the superconvergence of these nonconforming elements, asymptotically exact a posteriori error estimators of eigenvalues are constructed and analyzed for them. Finally, two post-processing methods are proposed to improve accuracy of approximate eigenvalues by employing these a posteriori error estimators.Numerical tests are provided to justify and compare the performance of the aforementioned methods.