Finite element error estimates on geometrically perturbed domains (Q2007010)

The authors consider the solution of the Laplace problem in a domain \(\Omega\) which geometry is not known exactly, e.g., the information on the geometry could come from some measurements. For solving this problem in the perturbed domain \(\Omega_r\) iso-parametric finite elements are used. Estimates of the error \(u - u_h\) in the \(H^1\)- and in the \(L_2\)-norm are derived. Hereby denotes \(u\) the exact solution of the boundary value problem in the domain \(\Omega\) and \(u_h\) is the finite element solution. It is shown that the error behaves like \(\Upsilon^{1/2}+ h^r\) in the \(H^1\)-norm and like \(\Upsilon + h^{r+1}\) in the \(L_2\)-norm. Hereby is \(r\) the polynomial degree of the finite element functions in each space direction, \(h\) the discretization parameter, and \(\Upsilon\) the Hausdorff distance between the two domains \(\Omega\) and \(\Omega_r\). Under additional assumptions it is proved that the error in the \(H^1\)-norm behaves like \(\Upsilon + h^r\). Numerical examples for the Laplace problem in two and three dimensions are presented which demonstrate this convergence behavior. Additionally, numerical experiments for the Stokes problem in two dimensions are given.