Finite element estimates for a class of nonlinear variational inequalities (Q687856)

The following variational inequality is considered: (1) \(\langle Tu,v- u\rangle+ b(u,v- u)\geq \langle f,v- u\rangle\) \(\forall v\in K\) \((u\in K)\). Here \(T\) is a nonlinear uniformly monotone operator from \(W^{1,p}_ 0(\Omega)\) into \(W^{-1,q}(\Omega)\), \(p^{-1}+ q^{-1}= 1\), \(1< p<\infty\), \(b\) is a positive continuous bilinear form, \[ K= \{v\in W^{1,p}_ 0(\Omega): v\geq \psi\text{ on }\Omega\}, \] \(\Omega\subset \mathbb{R}^ 2\) is a polygonal domain and \(\psi\in W^{1,p}_ 0(\Omega)\cap W^{2,p}(\Omega)\). The problem (1) is approximated by the standard finite element variational inequality on the subspace of continuous piecewise linear functions vanishing on \(\partial\Omega\). It is proved that the error of the finite element method can be estimated by \(O(h^{1/(p-1)})\) when \(p\geq 2\) and by \(O(h^{1/(3-p)})\) when \(1< p\leq 2\) provided that the solution of (1) lies in \(W^{2,p}(\Omega)\). These estimates generalizes some known results related to the case when \(K= W^{1,p}_ 0(\Omega)\). Note of the reviewer: A large number of misprints in the text makes it difficult to understand the main results, especially the conditions on the operator \(T\).