Discontinuous least-squares finite element method for the div-curl problem (Q2574172)

Traditional least-squares finite element methods rely on smoothness of the true solution for convergence. The authors consider discontinuous least-squares finite element methods for div-curl systems on nonconvex polyhedral regions, with resulting reduced smoothness of the solution. Interelement tangential and normal continuity, as well as boundary conditions, are formulated in the weak sense. The authors note that coercivity in the energy norm is a consequence of a Helmholtz decomposition. The main theoretical result of the paper is an estimate for the energy norm of the discrete solution error in terms of fractional Sobolev norms of the true solution. Several examples are presented for which discontinuous elements are used near singularities and continuous elements elsewhere in a hybrid approach. One example is a three-dimensional L-shaped domain on which a Poisson problem is expressed in div-curl form, resulting in a line singularity in the solution. In this case, the continuous least-squared finite element method converges to the wrong limit while the hybrid method converges to the correct solution. A second example shows the same situation for a point singularity. A final example is a magnetostatic problem involving a copper coil surrounding an iron core. Convergence cannot be achieved using traditional least-squares because the magnetic permeability of iron is \(10^4\) times larger than that of copper and air, but the hybrid method converges as \(O(N^{-2/5})\), where \(N\) is the number of elements.