A conceptual numerical strategy for rate-independent processes in the energetic formulation is proposed and its convergence is proved under various rather mild data qualifications. The novelty is that we obtain convergence of subsequences of space-time discretizations even in case where the limit problem does not have a unique solution and we need no additional assumptions on higher regularity of the limit solution. The variety of general perspectives thus obtained is illustrated on several specific examples: plasticity with isotropic hardening, damage, debonding, magnetostriction, and two models of martensitic transformation in shape-memory alloys.

A multilevel preconditioner based on the abstract framework of the auxiliary space method, is developed for the mortar method for the nonconforming P1 finite element or the lowest order Crouzeix-Raviart finite element on nonmatching grids. It is shown that the proposed preconditioner is quasi-optimal in the sense that the condition number of the preconditioned system is independent of the mesh size, and depends only quadratically on the number of refinement levels. Some numerical results confirming the theory are also provided.

This paper is concerned with the analysis and implementation of spectral Galerkin methods for a class of Fokker-Planck equations that arises from the kinetic theory of dilute polymers. A relevant feature of the class of equations under consideration from the viewpoint of mathematical analysis and numerical approximation is the presence of an unbounded drift coefficient, involving a smooth convex potential U that is equal to +∞ along the boundary ∂D of the computational domain D. Using a symmetrization of the differential operator based on the Maxwellian M corresponding to U, which vanishes along ∂D, we remove the unbounded drift coefficient at the expense of introducing a degeneracy, through M, in the principal part of the operator. The general class of admissible potentials considered includes the FENE (finitely extendible nonlinear elastic) model. We show the existence of weak solutions to the initial-boundary-value problem, and develop a fully-discrete spectral Galerkin method for such degenerate Fokker-Planck equations that exhibits optimal-order convergence in the Maxwellian-weighted H1 norm on D. In the case of the FENE model, we also discuss variants of these analytical results when the Fokker-Planck equation is subjected to an alternative class of transformations proposed by Chauvière and Lozinski; these map the original Fokker-Planck operator with an unbounded drift coefficient into Fokker-Planck operators with unbounded drift and reaction coefficients, that have improved coercivity properties in comparison with the original operator. The analytical results are illustrated by numerical experiments for the FENE model in two space dimensions.

A new Schwarz method for nonlinear systems is presented, constituting the multiplicative variant of a straightforward additive scheme. Local convergence can be guaranteed under suitable assumptions. The scheme is applied to nonlinear acoustic-structure interaction problems. Numerical examples validate the theoretical results. Further improvements are discussed by means of introducing overlapping subdomains and employing an inexact strategy for the local solvers.

In this work, we use the methods of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics in order to derive an equation which models some mechanisms of opinion formation. After proving the main mathematical properties of the model, we provide some numerical results.

In this article, we analyze the stability of various numerical schemes for differential models of viscoelastic fluids. More precisely, we consider the prototypical Oldroyd-B model, for which a free energy dissipation holds, and we show under which assumptions such a dissipation is also satisfied for the numerical scheme. Among the numerical schemes we analyze, we consider some discretizations based on the log-formulation of the Oldroyd-B system proposed by Fattal and Kupferman in [J. Non-Newtonian Fluid Mech.123 (2004) 281–285], for which solutions in some benchmark problems have been obtained beyond the limiting Weissenberg numbers for the standard scheme (see [Hulsen et al.J. Non-Newtonian Fluid Mech. 127 (2005) 27–39]). Our analysis gives some tracks to understand these numerical observations.

We analyze two numerical schemes of Euler type in time and C0 finite-element type with $\mathbb{P}_1$-approximation in space for solving a phase-field model of a binary alloy with thermal properties. This model is written as a highly non-linear parabolic system with three unknowns: phase-field, solute concentration and temperature, where the diffusion for the temperature and solute concentration may degenerate. The first scheme is nonlinear, unconditionally stable and convergent. The other scheme is linear but conditionally stable and convergent. A maximum principle is avoided in both schemes, using a truncation operator on the L2 projection onto the $\mathbb{P}_0$ finite element for the discrete concentration. In addition, for the model when the heat conductivity and solute diffusion coefficients are constants, optimal error estimates for both schemes are shown based on stability estimates.

The atomistic to continuum interface for quasicontinuum energies exhibits nonzero forces under uniform strain that have been called ghost forces. In this paper, we prove for a linearization of a one-dimensional quasicontinuum energy around a uniform strain that the effect of the ghost forces on the displacement nearly cancels and has a small effect on the error away from the interface. We give optimal order error estimates that show that the quasicontinuum displacement converges to the atomistic displacement at the rate O(h) in the discrete $\ell^\infty$ and w1,1 norms where h is the interatomic spacing. We also give a proof that the error in the displacement gradient decays away from the interface to O(h) at distance O(h|logh|) in the atomistic region and distance O(h) in the continuum region. Our work gives an explicit and simplified form for the decay of the effect of the atomistic to continuum coupling error in terms of a general underlying interatomic potential and gives the estimates described above in the discrete $\ell^\infty$ and w1,p norms.