Singularly perturbed problems often yield solutions with strong directional features, e.g. with boundary layers. Such anisotropic solutions lend themselves to adapted, anisotropic discretizations. The quality of the corresponding numerical solution is a key issue in any computational simulation. To this end we present a new robust error estimator for a singularly perturbed reaction–diffusion problem. In contrast to conventional estimators, our proposal is suitable for anisotropic finite element...

Singularly perturbed problems often yield solutions with strong directional features, e.g. with boundary layers. Such anisotropic solutions lend themselves to adapted, anisotropic discretizations. The quality of the corresponding numerical solution is a key issue in any computational simulation. To this end we present a new robust error estimator for a singularly perturbed reaction-diffusion problem. In contrast to conventional estimators, our proposal is suitable for anisotropic finite element...

The fully coupled description of blood flow and mass transport in blood vessels requires extremely robust numerical methods. In order to handle the heterogeneous coupling between blood flow and plasma filtration, addressed by means of Navier-Stokes and Darcy's equations, we need to develop a numerical scheme capable to deal with extremely variable parameters, such as the blood viscosity and Darcy's permeability of the arterial walls. In this paper, we describe a finite element method for...

The fully coupled description of blood flow and mass transport in blood vessels requires extremely robust numerical methods. In order to handle the heterogeneous coupling between blood flow and plasma filtration, addressed by means of Navier-Stokes and Darcy's equations, we need to develop a numerical scheme capable to deal with extremely variable parameters, such as the blood viscosity and Darcy's permeability of the arterial walls. In this paper, we describe a finite element method for...

We present a mathematical description of wetting and drying stone pores, where the resulting mathematical model contains hysteresis operators. We describe these hysteresis operators and present a numerical solution for a simplified problem.

The paper is devoted to the problem of verification of accuracy of approximate solutions obtained in computer simulations. This problem is strongly related to a posteriori error estimates, giving computable bounds for computational errors and detecting zones in the solution domain where such errors are too large and certain mesh refinements should be performed. A mathematical model embracing nonlinear elliptic variational problems is considered in this work. Based on functional type estimates developed...

Acute triangles are defined by having all angles less than $\pi /2$, and are characterized as the triangles containing their circumcenter in the interior. For simplices of dimension $n\ge 3$, acuteness is defined by demanding that all dihedral angles between $(n-1)$-dimensional faces are smaller than $\pi /2$. However, there are, in a practical sense, too few acute simplices in general. This is unfortunate, since the acuteness property provides good qualitative features for finite element methods. The property of acuteness...

When analysing general systems of PDEs, it is important first to find the involutive form of the initial system. This is because the properties of the system cannot in general be determined if the system is not involutive. We show that the notion of involutivity is also interesting from the numerical point of view. The use of the involutive form of the system allows one to consider quite general situations in a unified way. We illustrate our approach on the numerical solution of several flow equations...

When analysing general systems of PDEs, it is important first to find the involutive form of the initial system. This is because the properties of the system cannot in general be determined if the system is not involutive. We show that the notion of involutivity is also interesting from the numerical point of view. The use of the involutive form of the system allows one to consider quite general situations in a unified way. We illustrate our approach on the numerical solution of several flow equations...

Bidomain models are commonly used for studying and simulating electrophysiological waves in the cardiac tissue. Most of the time, the associated PDEs are solved using explicit finite difference methods on structured grids. We propose an implicit finite element method using unstructured grids for an anisotropic bidomain model. The impact and numerical requirements of unstructured grid methods is investigated using a test case with re-entrant waves.

Bidomain models are commonly used for studying and simulating electrophysiological waves in the cardiac tissue. Most of the time, the associated PDEs are solved using explicit finite difference methods on structured grids. We propose an implicit finite element method using unstructured grids for an anisotropic bidomain model. The impact and numerical requirements of unstructured grid methods is investigated using a test case with re-entrant waves.

We study the asymptotic behavior of a semi-discrete numerical approximation for a pair of heat equations $u_t=\Delta u$, $v_t=\Delta v$ in $\Omega \times (0,T)$; fully coupled by the boundary conditions $\frac{\partial u}{\partial \eta }=u^{p_{11}}{v}^{p_{12}}$, $\frac{\partial v}{\partial \eta }=u^{p_{21}}{v}^{p_{22}}$ on $\partial \Omega \times (0,T)$, where $\Omega$ is a bounded smooth domain in ${ℝ}^d$. We focus in the existence or not of non-simultaneous blow-up for a semi-discrete approximation $(U,V)$. We prove that if $U$ blows up in finite time then $V$ can fail to blow up if and only if $p_{11}\>1$ and $p_{21}\<2(p_{11}-1)$, which is the same condition as the one for non-simultaneous blow-up in the continuous problem. Moreover,...

We study the asymptotic behavior of a semi-discrete numerical approximation for a pair of heat equations ut = Δu, vt = Δv in Ω x (0,T); fully coupled by the boundary conditions $\frac{\partial u}{\partial \eta }=u^{p_{11}}{v}^{p_{12}}$, $\frac{\partial v}{\partial \eta }=u^{p_{21}}{v}^{p_{22}}$ on ∂Ω x (0,T), where Ω is a bounded smooth domain in ${ℝ}^d$. We focus in the existence or not of non-simultaneous blow-up for a semi-discrete approximation (U,V). We prove that if U blows up in finite time then V can fail to blow up if and only if p11 > 1 and p21 < 2(p11 - 1) , which is the same condition as...

In this paper we study a controllability problem for a simplified one dimensional model for the motion of a rigid body in a viscous fluid. The control variable is the velocity of the fluid at one end. One of the novelties brought in with respect to the existing literature consists in the fact that we use a single scalar control. Moreover, we introduce a new methodology, which can be used for other nonlinear parabolic systems, independently of the techniques previously used for the linearized problem....

A current procedure that takes into account the Dirichlet boundary condition with non-smooth data is to change it into a Robin type condition by introducing a penalization term; a major effect of this procedure is an easy implementation of the boundary condition. In this work, we deal with an optimal control problem where the control variable is the Dirichlet data. We describe the Robin penalization, and we bound the gap between the penalized and the non-penalized boundary controls for the small...

A current procedure that takes into account the Dirichlet boundary condition with non-smooth data is to change it into a Robin type condition by introducing a penalization term; a major effect of this procedure is an easy implementation of the boundary condition. In this work, we deal with an optimal control problem where the control variable is the Dirichlet data. We describe the Robin penalization, and we bound the gap between the penalized and the non-penalized boundary controls for the small...

This paper presents the main concept and several key features of the user-defined interface of COMSOL Java API for the solution of mechanical problems in fractured rock. This commercial computational system based on FEM has yet to incorporate fractures in mechanical problems. Our aim is to solve a 2D mechanical problem with a fracture which is defined separately from finite-element discretization and the fracture properties are included through the constitutive laws. This will be performed based...