The goal of our paper is to introduce basis functions for the finite element discretization of a second order linear elliptic operator with rough or highly oscillating coefficients. The proposed basis functions are inspired by the classic idea of component mode synthesis and exploit an orthogonal decomposition of the trial subspace to minimize the energy. Numerical experiments illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed basis functions.

The aim of this paper is to provide the correctors associated to the homogenization of a parabolic problem describing the heat transfer. The results here complete the earlier study in [Jose, Rev. Roumaine Math. Pures Appl.54 (2009) 189–222] on the asymptotic behaviour of a problem in a domain with two components separated by an ε-periodic interface. The physical model established in [Carslaw and Jaeger, The Clarendon Press, Oxford (1947)] prescribes on the interface the condition that the flux of the temperature is proportional to the jump of the temperature field, by a factor of order εγ. We suppose that -1 < γ ≤ 1. As far as the energies of the homogenized problems are concerned, we consider the cases -1 < γ < 1 and γ = 1 separately. To obtain the convergence of the energies, it is necessary to impose stronger assumptions on the data. As seen in [Jose, Rev. Roumaine Math. Pures Appl.54 (2009) 189–222] and [Faella and Monsurrò, Topics on Mathematics for Smart Systems, World Sci. Publ., Hackensack, USA (2007) 107–121] (also in [Donato et al., J. Math. Pures Appl.87 (2007) 119–143]), the case γ = 1 is more interesting because of the presence of a memory effect in the homogenized problem.

In this paper we derive a posteriori error estimates for the heat equation. The time discretization strategy is based on a θ-method and the mesh used for each time-slab is independent of the mesh used for the previous time-slab. The novelty of this paper is an upper bound for the error caused by the coarsening of the mesh used for computing the solution in the previous time-slab. The technique applied for deriving this upper bound is independent of the problem and can be generalized to other time dependent problems.

We consider a general abstract framework of a continuous elliptic problem set on a Hilbert space V that is approximated by a family of (discrete) problems set on a finite-dimensional space of finite dimension not necessarily included into V. We give a series of realistic conditions on an error estimator that allows to conclude that the marking strategy of bulk type leads to the geometric convergence of the adaptive algorithm. These conditions are then verified for different concrete problems like convection-reaction-diffusion problems approximated by a discontinuous Galerkin method with an estimator of residual type or obtained by equilibrated fluxes. Numerical tests that confirm the geometric convergence are presented.

The construction of reduced order models for dynamical systems using proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) is based on the information contained in so-called snapshots. These provide the spatial distribution of the dynamical system at discrete time instances. This work is devoted to optimizing the choice of these time instances in such a manner that the error between the POD-solution and the trajectory of the dynamical system is minimized. First and second order optimality systems are given. Numerical examples illustrate that the proposed criterion is sensitive with respect to the choice of the time instances and further they demonstrate the feasibility of the method in determining optimal snapshot locations for concrete diffusion equations.

We propose and analyse two convergent fully discrete schemes to solve the incompressible Navier-Stokes-Nernst-Planck-Poisson system. The first scheme converges to weak solutions satisfying an energy and an entropy dissipation law. The second scheme uses Chorin's projection method to obtain an efficient approximation that converges to strong solutions at optimal rates.

We consider the spherically symmetric Vlasov-Einstein system in the case of asymptotically flat spacetimes. From the physical point of view this system of equations can model the formation of a spherical black hole by gravitational collapse or describe the evolution of galaxies and globular clusters. We present high-order numerical schemes based on semi-Lagrangian techniques. The convergence of the solution of the discretized problem to the exact solution is proven and high-order error estimates are supplied. More precisely the metric coefficients converge in L∞ and the statistical distribution function of the matter and its moments converge in L2 with a rate of $\mathcal{O}$ (Δt2 + hm/Δt), when the exact solution belongs to Hm.