Superconvergence of a discontinuous finite element method for a nonlinear ordinary differential equation (Q613301)

The authors consider the following initial value problem for nonlinear ordinary differential equations \[ u'=f(x,u), \quad t\in(0,T], \quad u(0)=u_{0}. \] Let \(\mathcal{T}_{h}:0=t_{0}<t_{1}<\cdots<t_{N}=T\); \(I_{j}=(t_{j-1},t_{j})\), \(t_{j-1/2}=(t_{j}+t_{j-1})/2\), \(h_{j}=(t_{j}-t_{j-1})/2\), \(h=\max(h_{j})\). The corresponding finite element space is \[ S^{h}=\{u:u\big|_{I_{h}}\in \mathbf{P}_{n}(I_{j}),j=1,2,\dots,N,\quad u(t_{j})=u(t_{j}-0), j=1,2,\dots,N \}, \] where \(\mathbf{P}_{n}\) represents the space of all polynomials of degree \(\leq n\). The \(n\)-degree discontinuous finite element with interpolated coefficients \(U\in S^{h}\) is defined by: \[ \int_{I_{h}}(U'-I_{h}f(t,U))\nu\, dt+|U_{j-1}|\nu^{+}_{j-1}=0 ,\quad \nu\in S^{h},\quad j=1,2,\dots,N, \] where \(I_{h}\) denotes the Lagrangian interpolating operator on \(S^{h}\), and \(U\), \(I_{h}f(t,U)\) satisfy \[ U=\sum\psi_{\alpha}(t)U(t_{\alpha}),\quad I_{h}f(t,U)=\sum \psi_{\alpha}(t)f(t_{\alpha},U(t_{\alpha})), \] where \(\psi_{\alpha}(t)\) are the basis functions in the element \(I_{j}\). The partition \(\mathcal{T}_{h}\) of the interval \((-1,1]\) is given by \(\{t_{ji}=t_{j-1/2}+h_{j}z_{i},j=1,2,\dots,N,i=1,2,\dots,n+1\}\), \(-1<z_{1}<z_{2}<\dots<z_{n+1}=1\) being the \(n+1\) distinct roots of the Lagrange polynomial on \([-1,1]\). The main result of the paper is formulated in the following theorem: Assume that the partition \(\mathcal{T}_{h}\) of the interval \(I=[0,T]\) is quasiuniform and \(U\in S^{h}\) be the \(n\)-degree discontinuous finite element solution with interpolated coefficients of the problem. Then, at \(z\in\mathcal{T}_{h} \), the following superconvergence estimate is valid \[ (u-U)(z)=\mathcal{O}(h^{n+2}), \quad n\geq2. \]