Discrete FEM-BEM coupling with the Generalized Optimized Schwarz Method

TL;DR

This paper develops a non-overlapping domain decomposition method called GOSM for acoustic wave problems, extending analysis to fully discrete FEM-BEM couplings and ensuring well-posedness even at resonances.

Contribution

It introduces a new GOSM-based approach for FEM-BEM coupling, providing well-posed formulations at all wavenumbers and a geometrically convergent iterative solver.

Findings

Well-posed formulations for classical FEM-BEM couplings at all wavenumbers.

Explicit relation between kernel dimensions of formulations and substructured problems.

A geometrically convergent iterative method with convergence estimates.

Abstract

The present contribution aims at developing a non-overlapping Domain Decomposition (DD) approach to the solution of acoustic wave propagation boundary value problems based on the Helmholtz equation, on both bounded and unbounded domains. This DD solver, called Generalized Optimized Schwarz Method (GOSM), is a substructuring method, that is, the unknowns of an iteration are associated with the subdomains interfaces. We extend the analysis presented in a previous paper of one of the author to a fully discrete setting. We do not consider only a specific set of boundary conditions, but a whole class including, e.g., Dirichlet, Neumann, and Robin conditions. Our analysis will also cover interface conditions corresponding to a Finite Element Method - Boundary Element Method (FEM-BEM) coupling. In particular, we shall focus on three classical FEM-BEM couplings, namely the Costabel, Johnson-N\'ed\'elec and Bielak-MacCamy couplings. As a remarkable outcome, the present contribution yields well-posed substructured formulations of these classical FEM-BEM couplings for wavenumbers different from classical spurious resonances. We also establish an explicit relation between the dimensions of the kernels of the initial variational formulation, the local problems and the substructured formulation. That relation especially holds for any wavenumber for the substructured formulation of Costabel FEM-BEM coupling, which allows us to prove that the latter formulation is well-posed even at spurious resonances. Besides, we introduce a systematically geometrically convergent iterative method for the Costabel FEM-BEM coupling, with estimates on the convergence speed.