We discuss a finite element time-relaxation method for high Reynolds number flows. The method uses local projections on polynomials defined on macroelements of each pair of two elements sharing a face. We prove that this method shares the optimal stability and convergence properties of the continuous interior penalty (CIP) method. We give the formulation both for the scalar convection-diffusion equation and the time-dependent incompressible Euler equations and the associated convergence results. This note finishes with some numerical illustrations.

We suggest a fictitious domain method, based on the Nitsche XFEM method of (Comput. Meth. Appl. Mech. Engrg 2002; 191: 5537-5552), that employs a band of elements adjacent to the boundary. In contrast, the classical fictitious domain method uses Lagrange multipliers on a line (surface) where the boundary condition is to be enforced. The idea can be seen as an extension of the Chimera method of (ESAIM: Math. Model Numer. Anal. 2003; 37: 495-514), but with a hierarchical representation of the discontinuous solution field. The hierarchical formulation is better suited for moving fictitious boundaries since the stiffness matrix of the underlying structured mesh can be retained during the computations. Our technique allows for optimal convergence properties irrespective of the order of the underlying finite element method.

In this note we propose a finite element method for incompressible (or compressible) elasticity problems with discontinuous modulus of elasticity (or, if compressible, Poisson's ratio). The problem is written on mixed form using P(1)-continuous displacements and elementwise P(0) pressures, leading to the possibility of eliminating the pressure beforehand in the compressible case. In the incompressible case, the method is augmented by a stabilization term, penalizing the pressure jumps. We show a priori error estimates under certain regularity hypothesis. In particular we prove that if the exact solution is sufficiently smooth in each subdomain then the convergence order is optimal.

In this paper, we consider a stabilization method for the Stokes problem, using equal-order interpolation of the pressure and velocity, which avoids the use of the mesh size parameter in the stabilization term. We show that our approach is stable for equal-order interpolation in the case of piecewise linear and piecewise quadratic polynomials on triangles. In the case of linear polynomials, we retrieve a well-known idea of using mass lumping as a stabilization mechanism.

In this paper we present a residual-based a posteriori error estimate of a natural mesh dependent energy norm of the error in a family of discontinuous Galerkin approximations of elliptic problems. The theory is developed for an elliptic model problem in two and three spatial dimensions and general nonconvex polygonal domains are allowed. We also present some illustrating numerical examples.

In this note, we propose and analyse a method for handling interfaces between nonmatching grids based on an approach suggested by Nitsche (1971) for the approximation of Dirichlet boundary conditions. The exposition is limited to self-adjoint elliptic problems, using Poisson's equation as a model. A priori and a posteriori error estimates are given. Some numerical results are included.

In this note, we design a cut finite element method for a low order divergence-free element applied to a boundary value problem subject to Stokes' equations. For the imposition of Dirichlet boundary conditions, we consider either Nitsche's method or a stabilized Lagrange multiplier method. In both cases, the normal component of the velocity is constrained using a multiplier, different from the standard pressure approximation. The divergence of the approximate velocities is pointwise zero over the whole mesh domain, and we derive optimal error estimates for the velocity and pressures, where the error constant is independent of how the physical domain intersects the computational mesh, and of the regularity of the pressure multiplier imposing the divergence-free condition.

We consider C1-continuous approximations of the Kirchhoff plate problem in combination with a mesh dependent augmented Lagrangian method on a simply supported Signorini boundary.

We develop a discrete extension operator for trimmed spline spaces consisting of piecewise polynomial functions of degree p with k continuous derivatives. The construction is based on polynomial extension from neighboring elements together with projection back into the spline space. We prove stability and approximation results for the extension operator. Finally, we illustrate how we can use the extension operator to construct a stable cut isogeometric method for an elliptic model problem.

We consider solving the surface Helmholtz equation on a smooth two dimensional surface embedded into a three dimensional space meshed with tetrahedra. The mesh does not respect the surface and thus the surface cuts through the elements. We consider a Galerkin method based on using the restrictions of continuous piecewise linears defined on the tetrahedra to the surface as trial and test functions. Using a stabilized method combining Galerkin least squares stabilization and a penalty on the gradient jumps we obtain stability of the discrete formulation under the condition hk<C, where h denotes the mesh size, k the wave number and C a constant depending mainly on the surface curvature κ, but not on the surface/mesh intersection. Optimal error estimates in the H1 and L2-norms follow.

In this note we will explore some applications of the recently constructed piecewise affine, H1-conforming element that fits in a discrete de Rham complex (Christiansen and Hu, 2018). In particular we show how the element leads to locking free methods for incompressible elasticity and viscosity robust methods for the Brinkman model.

We develop a cut finite element method for the Bernoulli free boundary problem. The free boundary, represented by an approximate signed distance function on a fixed background mesh, is allowed to intersect elements in an arbitrary fashion. This leads to so called cut elements in the vicinity of the boundary. To obtain a stable method, stabilization terms are added in the vicinity of the cut elements penalizing the gradient jumps across element sides. The stabilization also ensures good conditioning of the resulting discrete system. We develop a method for shape optimization based on moving the distance function along a velocity field which is computed as the H¹ Riesz representation of the shape derivative. We show that the velocity field is the solution to an interface problem and we prove an a priori error estimate of optimal order, given the limited regularity of the velocity field across the interface, for the velocity field in the H¹norm. Finally, we present illustrating numerical results.

We develop a density based topology optimization method for linear elasticity based on the cut finite element method. More precisely, the design domain is discretized using cut finite elements which allow complicated geometry to be represented on a structured fixed background mesh. The geometry of the design domain is allowed to cut through the background mesh in an arbitrary way and certain stabilization terms are added in the vicinity of the cut boundary, which guarantee stability of the method. Furthermore, in addition to standard Dirichlet and Neumann conditions we consider interface conditions enabling coupling of the design domain to parts of the structure for which the design is already given. These given parts of the structure, called the nondesign domain regions, typically represent parts of the geometry provided by the designer. The nondesign domain regions may be discretized independently from the design domains using for example parametric meshed finite elements or isogeometric analysis. The interface and Dirichlet conditions are based on Nitsche's method and are stable for the full range of density parameters. In particular we obtain a traction-free Neumann condition in the limit when the density tends to zero. 

We design and analyze a hybridized cut finite element method for elliptic interface problems. In this method very general meshes can be coupled over internal unfitted interfaces, through a skeletal variable, using a Nitsche type approach. We discuss how optimal error estimates for the method are obtained using the tools of cut finite element methods and prove a condition number estimate for the Schur complement. Finally, we present illustrating numerical examples.

We present a shape and topology optimization method based on the cut finite element method, see [1],[2], and [3], for the optimal compliance problem in linear elasticity and problems involving restrictionson the stresses.The elastic domain is defined by a level-set function, and the evolution of the domain is obtained bymoving the level-set along a velocity field using a transport equation. The velocity field is defined tobe the largest decreasing direction of the shape derivative that resides in a certain Hilbert space and iscomputed by solving an elliptic problem, associated with the bilinear form in the Hilbert space, with theshape derivative as right hand side. The velocity field may thus be viewed as the Riesz representationof the shape derivative on the chosen Hilbert space.We thus obtain a coupled problem involving three partial differential equations: (1) the elasticity problem,(2) the elliptic problem that determines the velocity field, and (3) the transport problem for thelevelset function. The elasticity problem is solved using a cut finite element method on a fixed backgroundmesh, which completely avoids re–meshing when the domain is updated. The levelset functionand the velocity field is approximated by standard conforming elements on the background mesh. Wealso employ higher order cut approximations including isogeometric analysis for the elasticity problem.In this case the levelset function and the velocity field are represented using linear elements on a refinedmesh in order to simplify the geometric and quadrature computations on the cut elements. To obtain astable method, stabilization terms are added in the vicinity of the cut elements at the boundary, whichprovides control of the variation of the solution in the vicinity of the boundary. We present numericalexamples illustrating the performance of the method.We also study an anisotropic material model that accounts for the orientation of the layers in an additivemanufacturing process and by including the orientation in the optimization problem we determine theoptimal choice of orientation.We present numerical results including test problems and engineering applications in additive manufacturing.

References

[1] E. Burman, S. Claus, P. Hansbo, M. G. Larson, and A. Massing. CutFEM: discretizing geometryand partial differential equations. Internat. J. Numer. Methods Engrg., 104(7):472–501, 2015.

[2] E. Burman, D. Elfverson, P. Hansbo, M. G. Larson, and K. Larsson. Shape optimization using thecut finite element method. Technical report, 2016. arXiv:1611.05673.

[3] E. Burman, D. Elfverson, P. Hansbo, M. G. Larson, and K. Larsson. A cut finite element method forthe Bernoulli free boundary value problem. Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg., 317:598–618,2017.

We present a cut finite element method for shape optimization in the case of linear elasticity. The elastic domain is defined by a level-set function, and the evolution of the domain is obtained by moving the level-set along a velocity field using a transport equation. The velocity field is the largest decreasing direction of the shape derivative that satisfies a certain regularity requirement and the computation of the shape derivative is based on a volume formulation. Using the cut finite element method no re-meshing is required when updating the domain and we may also use higher order finite element approximations. To obtain a stable method, stabilization terms are added in the vicinity of the cut elements at the boundary, which provides control of the variation of the solution in the vicinity of the boundary. We implement and illustrate the performance of the method in the two-dimensional case, considering both triangular and quadrilateral meshes as well as finite element spaces of different order.

In this paper we present an extension of the continuous interior penalty method of Douglas and Dupont [ Interior penalty procedures for elliptic and parabolic Galerkin methods, in Computing Methods in Applied Sciences, Lecture Notes in Phys. 58, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1976, pp. 207 - 216] to Oseen's equations. The method consists of a stabilized Galerkin formulation using equal order interpolation for pressure and velocity. To counter instabilities due to the pressure/ velocity coupling, or due to a high local Reynolds number, we add a stabilization term giving L-2-control of the jump of the gradient over element faces ( edges in two dimensions) to the standard Galerkin formulation. Boundary conditions are imposed in a weak sense using a consistent penalty formulation due to Nitsche. We prove energy-type a priori error estimates independent of the local Reynolds number and give some numerical examples recovering the theoretical results.

In this paper we extend the recently introduced edge stabilization method to the case of non-conforming finite element approximations of the linearized Navier-Stokes equation. To get stability also in the convective dominated regime we add a term giving L-2-control of the jump in the gradient over element boundaries. An a priori error estimate that is uniform in the Reynolds number is proved and some numerical examples are presented.

We use the lowest possible approximation order, piecewise linear, continuous velocities and piecewise constant pressures to compute solutions to Stokes equation and Darcy's equation, applying an edge stabilization term to avoid locking. We prove that the formulation satisfies the discrete inf-sup condition, we prove an optimal a priori error estimate for both problems. The formulation is then extended to the coupled case using a Nitsche-type weak formulation allowing for different meshes in the two subdomains. Finally, we present some numerical examples verifying the theoretical predictions and showing the flexibility of the coupled approach.

In this paper we will discuss different coupling methods suitable for use in the framework of the recently introduced CutFEM paradigm, cf. Burman et al. (Int. J. Numer. Methods Eng. 104(7):472–501, 2015). In particular we will consider mortaring using Lagrange multipliers on the one hand and Nitsche’s method on the other. For simplicity we will first discuss these methods in the setting of uncut meshes, and end with some comments on the extension to CutFEM. We will, for comparison, discuss some different types of problems such as high contrast problems and problems with stiff coupling or adhesive contact. We will review some of the existing methods for these problems and propose some alternative methods resulting from crossovers from the Lagrange multiplier framework to Nitsche’s method and vice versa.

In this paper we recall a stabilization technique for finite element methods for convection-diffusion-reaction equations, originally proposed by Douglas and Dupont [Computing Methods in Applied Sciences, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1976]. The method uses least square stabilization of the gradient jumps a across element boundaries. We prove that the method is stable in the hyperbolic limit and prove optimal a priori error estimates. We address the question of monotonicity of discrete Solutions and present some numerical examples illustrating the theoretical results.

In this note we introduce and analyze a stabilized finite element method for the generalized Stokes equation. Stability is obtained by adding a least squares penalization of the gradient jumps across element boundaries. The method can be seen as a higher order version of the Brezzi-Pitkdranta penalty stabilization [F. Brezzi, J. Pitkaranta, On the stabilization of finite element approximations of the Stokes equations, in: W. Hackbusch (Ed.), Efficient Solution of Elliptic Systems, Vieweg, 1984], but gives better resolution on the boundary for the Stokes equation than does classical Galerkin least-squares formulation. We prove optimal and quasi-optimal convergence properties for Stokes' problem and for the porous media models of Darcy and Brinkman. Some numerical examples are given.

We propose a fictitious domain method where the mesh is cut by the boundary. The primal solution is computed only up to the boundary; the solution itself is defined also by nodes outside the domain, but the weak finite element form only involves those parts of the elements that are located inside the domain. The multipliers are defined as being element-wise constant on the whole (including the extension) of the cut elements in the mesh defining the primal variable. Inf-sup stability is obtained by penalizing the jump of the multiplier over element faces. We consider the case of a polygonal domain with possibly curved boundaries. The method has optimal convergence properties.

We extend the classical Nitsche type weak boundary conditions to a fictitious domain setting. An additional penalty term, acting on the jumps of the gradients over element faces in the interface zone, is added to ensure that the conditioning of the matrix is independent of how the boundary cuts the mesh. Optimal a priori error estimates in the H¹- and L²-norms are proved as well as an upper bound on the condition number of the system matrix. 

We extend our results on fictitious domain methods for Poisson’s problem to the case of incompressible elasticity, or Stokes’ problem. The mesh is not fitted to the domain boundary. Instead boundary conditions are imposed using a stabilized Nitsche type approach. Control of the non-physical degrees of freedom, i.e., those outside the physical domain, is obtained thanks to a ghost penalty term for both velocities and pressures. Both inf–sup stable and stabilized velocity pressure pairs are considered.

We extend the classical Nitsche type weak boundary conditions to a fictitious domain setting. An additional penalty term, acting on the jumps of the gradients over element faces in the interface zone, is added to ensure that the conditioning of the matrix is independent of how the boundary cuts the mesh. Optimal a priori error estimates in the H ¹- and L ²-norms are proved as well as an upper bound on the condition number of the system matrix.

In this paper we propose a class of jump-stabilized Lagrange multiplier methods for the finite-element solution of multidomain elliptic partial differential equations using piecewise-constant or continuous piecewise-linear approximations of the multipliers. For the purpose of stabilization we use the jumps in derivatives of the multipliers or, for piecewise constants, the jump in the multipliers themselves, across element borders. The ideas are illustrated using Poisson's equation as a model, and the proposed method is shown to be stable and optimally convergent. Numerical experiments demonstrating the theoretical results are also presented.

We stabilize the nonconforming Crouzeix-Raviart element for the Darcy-Stokes problem with terms motivated by a discontinuous Galerkin approach. Convergence of the method is shown, also in the limit of vanishing viscosity. Finally, some numerical examples verifying the theoretical predictions are presented.

We consider a stabilized nonconforming finite element method for data assimilation in incompressible flow subject to the Stokes equations. The method uses a primal dual structure that allows for the inclusion of nonstandard data. Error estimates are obtained that are optimal compared to the conditional stability of the ill-posed data assimilation problem.

We give a brief overview of our recent work on the edge stabilization method for flow problems. The application examples are convection-diffusion, with small diffusion parameter, and a generalized Stokes model.

We develop a robust cut finite element method for a model of diffusion in fractured media consisting of a bulk domain with embedded cracks. The crack has its own pressure field and can cut through the bulk mesh in a very general fashion. Starting from a common background bulk mesh, that covers the domain, finite element spaces are constructed for the interface and bulk subdomains leading to efficient computations of the coupling terms. The crack pressure field also uses the bulk mesh for its representation. The interface conditions are a generalized form of conditions of Robin type previously considered in the literature which allows the modeling of a range of flow regimes across the fracture. The method is robust in the following way: (1) Stability of the formulation in the full range of parameter choices; and (2) Not sensitive to the location of the interface in the background mesh. We derive an optimal order a priori error estimate and present illustrating numerical examples.

In this contribution we develop a cut finite element method with boundary value correction of the type originally proposed by Bramble, Dupont, and Thomée in [Math. Comp. 26 (1972), 869-879]. The cut finite element method is a fictitious domain method with Nitsche-type enforcement of Dirichlet conditions together with stabilization of the elements at the boundary which is stable and enjoy optimal order approximation properties. A computational difficulty is, however, the geometric computations related to quadrature on the cut elements which must be accurate enough to achieve higher order approximation. With boundary value correction we may use only a piecewise linear approximation of the boundary, which is very convenient in a cut finite element method, and still obtain optimal order convergence. The boundary value correction is a modified Nitsche formulation involving a Taylor expansion in the normal direction compensating for the approximation of the boundary. Key to the analysis is a consistent stabilization term which enables us to prove stability of the method and a priori error estimates with explicit dependence on the meshsize and distance between the exact and approximate boundary.

We present a new approach for adding Bernoulli beam reinforcements to Kirchhoff plates. The plate is discretised using a continuous/discontinuous finite element method based on standard continuous piecewise polynomial finite element spaces. The beams are discretised by the CutFEM technique of letting the basis functions of the plate represent also the beams which are allowed to pass through the plate elements. This allows for a fast and easy way of assessing where the plate should be supported, for instance, in an optimization loop.

In this paper, we develop a simple finite element method for simulation of embedded layers of high permeability in a matrix of lower permeability using a basic model of Darcy flow in embedded cracks. The cracks are allowed to cut through the mesh in arbitrary fashion and we take the flow in the crack into account by superposition. The fact that we use continuous elements leads to suboptimal convergence due to the loss of regularity across the crack. We therefore refine the mesh in the vicinity of the crack in order to recover optimal order convergence in terms of the global mesh parameter. The proper degree of refinement is determined based on an a priori error estimate and can thus be performed before the actual finite element computation is started. Numerical examples showing this effect and confirming the theoretical results are provided. The approach is easy to implement and beneficial for rapid assessment of the effect of crack orientation and may for example be used in an optimization loop. 

We consider solving the Laplace–Beltrami problem on a smooth two dimensional surface embedded into a three dimensional space meshed with tetrahedra. The mesh does not respect the surface and thus the surface cuts through the elements. We consider a Galerkin method based on using the restrictions of continuous piecewise linears defined on the tetrahedra to the surface as trial and test functions.

The resulting discrete method may be severely ill-conditioned, and the main purpose of this paper is to suggest a remedy for this problem based on adding a consistent stabilization term to the original bilinear form. We show optimal estimates for the condition number of the stabilized method independent of the location of the surface. We also prove optimal a priori error estimates for the stabilized method. 

In this paper, we propose a stabilized finite element method for the numerical solution of contact between a small deformation elastic membrane and a rigid obstacle. We limit ourselves to friction-free contact, but the formulation is readily extendable to more complex situations. 

We propose two different Lagrange multiplier methods for contact problems derived from the augmented Lagrangian variational formulation. Both the obstacle problem, where a constraint on the solution is imposed in the bulk domain and the Signorini problem, where a lateral contact condition is imposed are considered. We consider both continuous and discontinuous approximation spaces for the Lagrange multiplier. In the latter case the method is unstable and a penalty on the jump of the multiplier must be applied for stability. We prove the existence and uniqueness of discrete solutions, best approximation estimates and convergence estimates that are optimal compared to the regularity of the solution. 

We present and analyze a method for thin plates based on cut Bogner-Fox-Schmit elements, which are C1 elements obtained by taking tensor products of Hermite splines. The formulation is based on Nitsche’s method for weak enforcement of essential boundary conditions together with addition of certain stabilization terms that enable us to establish coercivity and stability of the resulting system of linear equations. We also take geometric approximation of the boundary into account and we focus our presentation on the simply supported boundary conditions which is the most sensitive case for geometric approximation of the boundary. 

We develop a general framework for construction and analysis of discrete extension operators with application to unfitted finite element approximation of partial differential equations. In unfitted methods so called cut elements intersected by the boundary occur and these elements must in general by stabilized in some way. Discrete extension operators provides such a stabilization by modification of the finite element space close to the boundary. More, precisely the finite element space is extended from the stable interior elements over the boundary in a stable way which also guarantees optimal approximation properties. Our framework is applicable to all standard nodal based finite elements of various order and regularity. We develop an abstract theory for elliptic problems and associated parabolic time dependent partial differential equations and derive a priori error estimates. We finally apply this to some examples of partial differential equations of different order including the interface problems, the biharmonic operator and the sixth order triharmonic operator.

We propose a boundary value correction approach for cases when curved boundaries are approximated by straight lines (planes) and Lagrange multipliers are used to enforce Dirichlet boundary conditions. The approach allows for optimal order convergence for polynomial order up to 3. We show the relation to a Taylor series expansion approach previously used in the context of Nitsche’s method and, in the case of inf-sup stable multiplier methods, prove a priori error estimates with explicit dependence on the meshsize and distance between the exact and approximate boundary. 

In the present work we show some results on the effect of the Smagorinsky model on the stability of the associated perturbation equation. We show that in the presence of a spectral gap, such that the flow can be decomposed in a large scale with moderate gradient and a small amplitude fine scale with arbitratry gradient, the Smagorinsky model admits stability estimates for perturbations, with exponential growth depending only on the large scale gradient. We then show in the context of stabilized finite element methods that the same result carries over to the approximation and that in this context, for suitably chosen finite element spaces the Smagorinsky model acts as a stabilizer yielding close to optimal error estimates in the L-2-norm for smooth flows in the pre-asymptotic high Reynolds number regime.

In this paper we develop a fully explicit cut finite element method for the wave equation. The method is based on using a standard leap frog scheme combined with an extension operator that defines the nodal values outside of the domain in terms of the nodal values inside the domain. We show that the mass matrix associated with the extended finite element space can be lumped leading to a fully explicit scheme. We derive stability estimates for the method and provide optimal order a priori error estimates. Finally, we present some illustrating numerical examples.

We show error estimates for a cut finite element approximation of a second order elliptic problem with mixed boundary conditions. The error estimates are of low regularity type where we consider the case when the exact solution u & ISIN; Hs with s & ISIN; (1, 3/2]. For Nitsche type methods this case requires special handling of the terms involving the normal flux of the exact solution at the the boundary. For Dirichlet boundary conditions the estimates are optimal, whereas in the case of mixed Dirichlet-Neumann boundary conditions they are suboptimal by a logarithmic factor.

Tikhonov regularization is one of the most commonly used methods for the regularization of ill-posed problems. In the setting of finite element solutions of elliptic partial differential control problems, Tikhonov regularization amounts to adding suitably weighted least squares terms of the control variable, or derivatives thereof, to the Lagrangian determining the optimality system. In this note we show that the stabilization methods for discretely illposed problems developed in the setting of convection-dominated convection– diffusion problems, can be highly suitable for stabilizing optimal control problems, and that Tikhonov regularization will lead to less accurate discrete solutions. We consider some inverse problems for Poisson’s equation as an illustration and derive new error estimates both for the reconstruction of the solution from the measured data and reconstruction of the source term from the measured data. These estimates include both the effect of the discretization error and error in the measurements.

In this paper we will present a review of recent advances in the application of the augmented Lagrange multiplier method as a general approach for generating multiplier-free stabilised methods. The augmented Lagrangian method consists of a standard Lagrange multiplier method augmented by a penalty term, penalising the constraint equations, and is well known as the basis for iterative algorithms for constrained optimisation problems. Its use as a stabilisation methods in computational mechanics has, however, only recently been appreciated. We first show how the method generates Galerkin/Least Squares type schemes for equality constraints and then how it can be extended to develop new stabilised methods for inequality constraints. Application to several different problems in computational mechanics is given.

We design and analyse a Nitsche method for contact problems. Compared to the seminal work of Chouly and Hild [SIAM J. Numer. Anal., 51 (2013), pp. 1295--1307], our method is constructed by expressing the contact conditions in a nonlinear function for the displacement variable instead of the lateral forces. The contact condition is then imposed using the nonsymmetric variant of Nitsche's method that does not require a penalty term for stability. Nonconforming piecewise affine elements are considered for the bulk discretization. We prove optimal error estimates in the energy norm.

We develop a cut finite element method (CutFEM) for the convection problem in a so called fractured domain, which is a union of manifolds of different dimensions such that a d dimensional component always resides on the boundary of a d+1 dimensional component. This type of domain can for instance be used to model porous media with embedded fractures that may intersect. The convection problem is formulated in a compact form suitable for analysis using natural abstract directional derivative and divergence operators. The cut finite element method is posed on a fixed background mesh that covers the domain and the manifolds are allowed to cut through a fixed background mesh in an arbitrary way. We consider a simple method based on continuous piecewise linear elements together with weak enforcement of the coupling conditions and stabilization. We prove a priori error estimates and present illustrating numerical examples.

We explore how recent advances in Isogeometric analysis, Galerkin Least-Squares methods, and Augmented Lagrangian techniques can be applied to solve nonstandard problems, for which there is no classical stability theory, such as that provided by the Lax–Milgram lemma or the Banach-Necas-Babuska theorem. In particular, we consider continuation problems where a second-order partial differential equation with incomplete boundary data is solved given measurements of the solution on a subdomain of the computational domain. The use of higher regularity spline spaces leads to simplified formulations and potentially minimal multiplier space. We show that our formulation is inf-sup stable, and given appropriate a priori assumptions, we establish optimal order convergence.

We develop a finite element method for the Laplace–Beltrami operator on a surface with boundary and nonhomogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions. The method is based on a triangulation of the surface and the boundary conditions are enforced weakly using Nitsche’s method. We prove optimal order a priori error estimates for piecewise continuous polynomials of order (Formula presented.) in the energy and (Formula presented.) norms that take the approximation of the surface and the boundary into account.