Analysis of lumped approximations in the finite-element method for convection-diffusion problems (Q465995)

The authors analyze the influence of the mass lumping technique in the Petrov-Galerkin finite element method on the accuracy and qualitative properties of the numerical solution of the one-dimensional non-stationary convection-diffusion equation. They point out that the use of this technique can cause considerable errors in the numerical solution because of the artificial dissipation introduced by it to the numerical schemes, which excessively smooths the solution, and because of the violated consistency of numerical approximations. Numerical examples are given.