An iterative substructuring method for Maxwell's equations in two dimensions

Iterative substructuring methods, also known as Schur complement methods, form an important family of domain decomposition algorithms. They are preconditioned conjugate gradient methods where solvers on local subregions and a solver on a coarse mesh are used to construct the preconditioner. For conforming finite element approximations of , it is known that the number of conjugate gradient steps required to reduce the residual norm by a fixed factor is independent of the number of substructures, and that it grows only as the logarithm of the dimension of the local problem associated with an individual substructure. In this paper, the same result is established for similar iterative methods for low-order Nédélec finite elements, which approximate in two dimensions. Results of numerical experiments are also provided.

     

A mortar edge element method with nearly optimal convergence for three-dimensional Maxwell's equations

In this paper, we are concerned with mortar edge element methods for solving three-dimensional Maxwell's equations. A new type of Lagrange multiplier space is introduced to impose the weak continuity of the tangential components of the edge element solutions across the interfaces between neighboring subdomains. The mortar edge element method is shown to have nearly optimal convergence under some natural regularity assumptions when nested triangulations are assumed on the interfaces. A generalized edge element interpolation is introduced which plays a crucial role in establishing the nearly optimal convergence. The theoretically predicted convergence is confirmed by numerical experiments.

     

Implicit a posteriori error estimates for the Maxwell equations

An implicit a posteriori error estimation technique is presented and analyzed for the numerical solution of the time-harmonic Maxwell equations using Nédélec edge elements. For this purpose we define a weak formulation for the error on each element and provide an efficient and accurate numerical solution technique to solve the error equations locally. We investigate the well-posedness of the error equations and also consider the related eigenvalue problem for cubic elements. Numerical results for both smooth and non-smooth problems, including a problem with reentrant corners, show that an accurate prediction is obtained for the local error, and in particular the error distribution, which provides essential information to control an adaptation process. The error estimation technique is also compared with existing methods and provides significantly sharper estimates for a number of reported test cases.

     

Convergence analysis of a covolume scheme for Maxwell's equations in three dimensions

This paper contains error estimates for covolume discretizations of Maxwell's equations in three space dimensions. Several estimates are proved. First, an estimate for a semi-discrete scheme is given. Second, the estimate is extended to cover the classical interlaced time marching technique. Third, some of our unstructured mesh results are specialized to rectangular meshes, both uniform and nonuniform. By means of some additional analysis it is shown that the spatial convergence rate is one order higher than for the unstructured case.

     

Global superconvergence for Maxwell's equations

In this paper, the global superconvergence is analysed on two schemes (a mixed finite element scheme and a finite element scheme) for Maxwell's equations in . Such a supercovergence analysis is achieved by means of the technique of integral identity (which has been used in the supercovergence analysis for many other equations and schemes) on a rectangular mesh, and then are generalized into more general domains and problems with the variable coefficients. Besides being more direct, our analysis generalizes the results of Monk.

     

Domain decomposition preconditioners of Neumann-Neumann type for hp-approximations on boundary layer meshes in three dimensions

We develop and analyse Neumann–Neumann methods for hpfinite-element approximations of scalar elliptic problems ongeometrically refined boundary layer meshes in three dimensions.These are meshes that are highly anisotropic where the aspectratio typically grows exponentially with the polynomial degree.The condition number of our preconditioners is shown to be independentof the aspect ratio of the mesh and of potentially large jumpsof the coefficients. In addition, it only grows polylogarithmicallywith the polynomial degree, as in the case of p approximationson shape-regular meshes. This work generalizes our previousone on two-dimensional problems in Toselli & Vasseur (2003a,submitted to Numerische Mathematik, 2003c to appear in Comput.Methods Appl. Mech. Engng.) and the estimates derived here canbe employed to prove condition number bounds for certain typesof FETI methods.     

Lower bounds for nonoverlapping domain decomposition preconditioners in two dimensions

Lower bounds for the condition numbers of the preconditioned systems are obtained for the Bramble-Pasciak-Schatz substructuring preconditioner and the Neumann-Neumann preconditioner in two dimensions. They show that the known upper bounds are sharp.

     

Substructuring preconditioners for the three fields domain decomposition method

We study a class of preconditioners based on substructuring, for the discrete Steklov-Poincaré operator arising in the three fields formulation of domain decomposition in two dimensions. Under extremely general assumptions on the discretization spaces involved, an upper bound is provided on the condition number of the preconditioned system, which is shown to grow at most as ( and denoting, respectively, the diameter and the discretization mesh-size of the subdomains). Extensive numerical tests--performed on both a plain and a stabilized version of the method--confirm the optimality of such bound.

     

Overlapping Schwarz methods for Maxwell's equations in three dimensions

Summary. A two-level overlapping Schwarz method is considered for a Nédélec finite element approximation of 3D Maxwell's equations. For a fixed relative overlap, the condition number of the method is bounded, independently of the mesh size of the triangulation and the number of subregions. Our results are obtained with the assumption that the coarse triangulation is quasi-uniform and, for the Dirichlet problem, that the domain is convex. Our work generalizes well–known results for conforming finite elements for second order elliptic scalar equations. Numerical results for one and two-level algorithms are also presented. Received November 11, 1997 / Revised version received May 26, 1999 / Published online June 21, 2000     

Fully discrete finite element scheme for Maxwell's equations with non-linear boundary condition

We study a full Maxwell's system accompanied with a non-linear degenerate boundary condition, which represents a generalization of the classical Silver-Müller condition for a non-perfect conductor. The relationship between the normal components of electric E and magnetic H field obeys the following power law ν×H=ν×(|E×ν|^α−1E×ν) for some α∈(0,1]. We establish the existence and uniqueness of a weak solution in a suitable function spaces under the minimal regularity assumptions on the boundary Γ and the initial data E₀ and H₀. We design a non-linear time discrete approximation scheme and prove convergence of the approximations to a weak solution. We also derive the error estimates for the time discretization. As a next step we study the fully discrete problem using curl-conforming edge elements and derive the corresponding error estimates. Finally we present some numerical experiments.     

A mortar spectral element method for 3D Maxwell's equations

^** Email: Tahar.Boulmezaoud{at}univ-pau.fr^*** Email: Mohammed.Elrhabi{at}math.jussieu.fr In this paper we propose a mortar spectral element method forsolving Maxwell's equations in 3D bounded cavities. The methodis based on a non-conforming decomposition of the domain intothe union of non-overlapping parallelepipeds. After provingan error estimate, we present some 3D computational resultswhich confirm the performance of the method.     

Overlapping Schwarz preconditioners for indefinite time harmonic Maxwell equations

Time harmonic Maxwell equations in lossless media lead to a second order differential equation for the electric field involving a differential operator that is neither elliptic nor definite. A Galerkin method using Nedelec spaces can be employed to get approximate solutions numerically. The problem of preconditioning the indefinite matrix arising from this method is discussed here. Specifically, two overlapping Schwarz methods will be shown to yield uniform preconditioners.

     

Superconvergence analysis for Maxwell's equations in dispersive media

In this paper, we consider the time dependent Maxwell's equations in dispersive media on a bounded three-dimensional domain. Global superconvergence is obtained for semi-discrete mixed finite element methods for three most popular dispersive media models: the isotropic cold plasma, the one-pole Debye medium, and the two-pole Lorentz medium. Global superconvergence for a standard finite element method is also presented. To our best knowledge, this is the first superconvergence analysis obtained for Maxwell's equations when dispersive media are involved.

     

A non-conforming domain decomposition for Raviart-Thomas vector fields in three dimensions

In this paper we are concerned with a domain decomposition method with nonmatching grids for Raviart-Thomas finite elements. In this method, the normal complement of the resulting approximation is not continuous across the interface. To handle such non-conformity, a new matching condition will be introduced. Such matching condition still     

Interior penalty preconditioners for mixed finite element approximations of elliptic problems

It is established that an interior penalty method applied to second-order elliptic problems gives rise to a local operator which is spectrally equivalent to the corresponding nonlocal operator arising from the mixed finite element method. This relation can be utilized in order to construct preconditioners for the discrete mixed system. As an example, a family of additive Schwarz preconditioners for these systems is constructed. Numerical examples which confirm the theoretical results are also presented.

     

Gauss point mass lumping schemes for Maxwell's equations

Finite element and finite difference methods for approximating the Maxwell system propagate numerical waves with slightly incorrect velocities, and this results in phase error in the computed solution. Indeed this error limits the type of problem that can be solved, because phase error accumulates during the computation and eventually destroys the solution. Here we propose a family of mass-lumped finite element schemes using edge elements. We emphasize in particular linear elements that are equivalent to the standard Yee FDTD scheme, and cubic elements that have superior phase accuracy. We prove theorems that allow us to perform a dispersion analysis of the two common families of edge elements on rectilinear grids. A result of this analysis is to provide some justification for the choice of the particular family we use. We also provide a limited selection of numerical results that show the efficiency of our scheme. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 14: 63–88, 1998     

Transmission problems for Maxwell's equations with weakly Lipschitz interfaces

We prove sufficient conditions on material constants, frequency and Lipschitz regularity of interface for well posedness of a generalized Maxwell transmission problem in finite energy norms. This is done by embedding Maxwell's equations in an elliptic Dirac equation, by constructing the natural trace space for the transmission problem and using Hodge decompositions for operators d and δ on weakly Lipschitz domains to prove stability. We also obtain results for boundary value problems and transmission problems for the Hodge–Dirac equation and prove spectral estimates for boundary singular integral operators related to double layer potentials. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Domain decomposition preconditioners for multiscale problems in linear elasticity

We analyze two‐level overlapping Schwarz domain decomposition methods for vector‐valued piecewise linear finite element discretizations of the PDE system of linear elasticity. The focus of our study lies in the application to compressible, particle‐reinforced composites in 3D with large jumps in their material coefficients. We present coefficient‐explicit bounds for the condition number of the two‐level additive Schwarz preconditioned linear system. Thereby, we do not require that the coefficients are resolved by the coarse mesh. The bounds show a dependence of the condition number on the energy of the coarse basis functions, the coarse mesh, and the overlap parameters, as well as the coefficient variation. Similar estimates have been developed for scalar elliptic PDEs by Graham et al. 1 The coarse spaces to which they apply here are assumed to contain the rigid body modes and can be considered as generalizations of the space of piecewise linear vector‐valued functions on a coarse triangulation. The developed estimates provide a concept for the construction of coarse spaces, which can lead to preconditioners that are robust with respect to high contrasts in Young's modulus and the Poisson ratio of the underlying composite. To confirm the sharpness of the theoretical findings, we present numerical results in 3D using vector‐valued linear, multiscale finite element and energy‐minimizing coarse spaces. The theory is not restricted to the isotropic (Lamé) case, extends to the full‐tensor case, and allows applications to multiphase materials with anisotropic constituents in two and three spatial dimensions. However, the bounds will depend on the ratio of largest to smallest eigenvalue of the elasticity tensor.     

Dual-primal FETI algorithms for edge finite-element approximations in 3D

^** Email: toselli{at}sam.math.ethz.ch A family of dual-primal finite-element tearing and interconnectingmethods for edge-element approximations in 3D is proposed andanalysed. The key part of this work relies on the observationthat for these finite-element spaces there is a strong couplingbetween degrees of freedom associated with subdomain edges andfaces and a local change of basis is therefore necessary. Theprimal constraints are associated with subdomain edges. We proposethree methods. They ensure a condition number that is independentof the number of substructures and possibly large jumps of oneof the coefficients of the original problem, and only dependson the number of unknowns associated with a single substructure,as for the corresponding methods for continuous nodal elements.A polylogarithmic dependence is shown for two algorithms. Numericalresults validating our theoretical bounds are given.     

The splitting finite-difference time-domain methods for Maxwell's equations in two dimensions

In this paper, we consider splitting methods for Maxwell's equations in two dimensions. A new kind of splitting finite-difference time-domain methods on a staggered grid is developed. The corresponding schemes consist of only two stages for each time step, which are very simple in computation. The rigorous analysis of the schemes is given. By the energy method, it is proved that the scheme is unconditionally stable and convergent for the problems with perfectly conducting boundary conditions. Numerical dispersion analysis and numerical experiments are presented to show the efficient performance of the proposed methods. Furthermore, the methods are also applied to solve a scattering problem successfully.