scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1392010

Authors Ronghua Li, Zhongying Chen, Wei Wu

Publication date 23 January 2000

elliptic problems finite element method finite volume method generalized finite difference method hyperbolic conservation laws textbook

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Nonlinear boundary value problems for ordinary differential equations (34B15) Nonlinear parabolic equations (35K55) Hyperbolic conservation laws (35L65) General theory of numerical analysis in abstract spaces (65J05) Finite difference and finite volume methods for ordinary differential equations (65L12) Finite difference methods for initial value and initial-boundary value problems involving PDEs (65M06) Finite element, Rayleigh-Ritz and Galerkin methods for initial value and initial-boundary value problems involving PDEs (65M60) Finite element, Rayleigh-Ritz and Galerkin methods for boundary value problems involving PDEs (65N30)

Review text

The finite volume method is a very natural approach to discretize partial differential equations in conservation form and is successfully employed in computations in all branches of Mathematical Physics for decades. The finite volume method combines features on finite difference approximations with features of finite element methods and was called generalized finite difference method by the Russian school A. A. Samarskij. While the method is very close to the finite element method in the case of elliptic equations, it is in hyperbolic problems where certain properties of the finite difference methodology, e.g. upwind strategies, dominate. The book starts with a chapter on Sobolev spaces and abstract variational problems. This chapter opens way to a thorough discussion of finite volume approximations of elliptic problems. In contrast to the title of the book the analysis presented is based exclusively on finite element ideas since the finite volume method is understood as a Petrov-Galerkin-like finite element scheme. Finite element analysis dominates also the discussion of parabolic and hyperbolic equations. The most active area of research these days -- finite volume approximations of hyperbolic conservation laws -- takes only about six pages. The book ends with a chapter on different applications of the finite volume method ranging from problems of elasticity to the implementation of hierarchical basis'. The book contains a lot of very useful material on the numerical analysis of the finite volume scheme. However, a reader interested in the modern theory of convergence of finite volume methods applied to nonlinear hyperbolic conservation laws should consult \textit{D. Kröner's} book ``Numerical schemes for conservation laws (1997; Zbl 0872.76001). On page 323, the authors of the present book write: ``The high accuracy methods require further improvements such as: How to reduce the superfluous oscillations? And how to modify them for computing discontinuous solutions (shock waves) of quasilinear conservative equations. It seems necessary to introduce a proper diffusion term in the schemes. This statement simply ignores to decades of research devoted to the recovery problem in finite volume approximations. Here, the book will be useful to researchers and graduate students working on the numerical analysis of finite element methods and finite volume methods for elliptic problems. People with an interest in the fascinating developments of the analysis of finite volume methods for hyperbolic conservation laws will not be satisfied, nor will researchers with strong interests in finite difference methods.

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