A discrete scheme of Laplace-Beltrami operator and its convergence over quadrilateral meshes (Q931735)

The generalized finite element method (GFEM) is a meshless method that originated in the work of \textit{I. Babuška} et al. [cf. Acta Numerica 12, 1--125 (2003; Zbl 1048.65105)]. It is based on the partition of the unity method (PUM) introduced by \textit{I. Babuška} and \textit{J. M. Melenk} [Int. J. Numer. Methods Eng. 40, No. 4, 727--758 (1997; Zbl 0949.65117)]. It was further analyzed and developed by \textit{T. Strouboulis} et al. [Int. J. Numer. Methods Eng. 47, No. 8, 1401--1417 (2000; Zbl 0955.65080); Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Eng. 181, No. 1-3, 43--69 (2000; Zbl 0983.65127); The design and implementation of the generalized finite element method, Ph.D. thesis, Texas A\&M University, College Station, Texas, August 2000; Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Eng. 190, No. 32-33, 4081--4193 (2001; Zbl 0997.74069)]. The main attributes of the GFEM are the capability of using meshes that are independent, or partially independent, of the geometry of the domain and the flexibility of constructing the trial spaces. One of the major problems in the implementation of GFEM is the enforcement of essential-Dirichlet type--boundary conditions. This problem is studied in the case of Dirichlet boundary value problems involving second-order elliptic operators.