2011/09/06 by Xiaobing Feng, Michael Neilan, Feng, Xiaobing +1 · 1 citation
Engineering · Mathematics · #Advanced Numerical Methods in Computational Mathematics #Analysis of PDEs (math.AP) #Computational Fluid Dynamics and Aerodynamics #Differential Equations and Numerical Methods #FOS: Mathematics #Numerical Analysis (math.NA)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1109.1183
openalex publication_date 2011/09/06 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The vanishing moment method was introduced by the authors in [37] as a reliable methodology for computing viscosity solutions of fully nonlinear second order partial differential equations (PDEs), in particular, using Galerkin-type numerical methods such as finite element methods, spectral methods, and discontinuous Galerkin methods, a task which has not been practicable in the past. The crux of the vanishing moment method is the simple idea of approximating a fully nonlinear second order PDE by a family (parametrized by a small parameter \vepsi) of quasilinear higher order (in particular, fourth order) PDEs. The primary objectives of this book are to present a detailed convergent analysis for the method in the radial symmetric case and to carry out a comprehensive finite element numerical analysis for the vanishing moment equations (i.e., the regularized fourth order PDEs). Abstract methodological and convergence analysis frameworks of conforming finite element methods and mixed finite element methods are first developed for fully nonlinear second order PDEs in general settings. The abstract frameworks are then applied to three prototypical nonlinear equations, namely, the Monge-Ampère equation, the equation of prescribed Gauss curvature, and the infinity-Laplacian equation. Numerical experiments are also presented for each problem to validate the theoretical error estimate results and to gauge the efficiency of the proposed numerical methods and the vanishing moment methodology.