“This book combines an updated look, at an advanced level, of the mathematical theory of the finite element method (including some important recent developments), and a presentation of many of the standard iterative methods for the numerical solution of the linear system of equations that results from finite element discretization, including saddle point problems arising from mixed finite element approximation. For the reader with some prior background in the subject, this text clarifies the importance of the essential ideas and provides a deeper understanding of how the basic concepts fit together.” — Richard S. Falk, Rutgers University “Students of applied mathematics, engineering, and science will welcome this insightful and carefully crafted introduction to the mathematics of finite elements and to algorithms for iterative solvers. Concise, descriptive, and entertaining, the text covers all of the key mathematical ideas and concepts dealing with finite element approximations of problems in mechanics and physics governed by partial differential equations while interweaving basic concepts on Sobolev spaces and basic theorems of functional analysis presented in an effective tutorial style.” — J. Tinsley Oden, The University of Texas at Austin This textbook describes the mathematical principles of the finite element method, a technique that turns a (linear) partial differential equation into a discrete linear system, often amenable to fast linear algebra. Reflecting the author’s decade of experience in the field, Mathematical Foundations of Finite Elements and Iterative Solvers examines the crucial interplay between analysis, discretization, and computations in modern numerical analysis; furthermore, it recounts historical developments leading to current state-of-the-art techniques. While self-contained, this textbook provides a clear and in-depth discussion of several topics, including elliptic problems, continuous Galerkin methods, iterative solvers, advection-diffusion problems, and saddle point problems. Accessible to readers with a beginning background in functional analysis and linear algebra, this text can be used in graduate-level courses on advanced numerical analysis, data science, numerical optimization, and approximation theory. Professionals in numerical analysis and finite element methods will also find the book of interest.

This book is a description of why and how to do Scientific Computing for fundamental models of fluid flow. It contains introduction, motivation, analysis, and algorithms and is closely tied to freely available MATLAB codes that implement the methods described. The focus is on finite element approximation methods and fast iterative solution methods for the consequent linear(ized) systems arising in important problems that model incompressible fluid flow. The problems addressed are the Poisson equation, Convection-Diffusion problem, Stokes problem and Navier-Stokes problem, including new material on time-dependent problems and models of multi-physics. The corresponding iterative algebra based on preconditioned Krylov subspace and multigrid techniques is for symmetric and positive definite, nonsymmetric positive definite, symmetric indefinite and nonsymmetric indefinite matrix systems respectively. For each problem and associated solvers there is a description of how to compute together with theoretical analysis that guides the choice of approaches and describes what happens in practice in the many illustrative numerical results throughout the book (computed with the freely downloadable IFISS software). All of the numerical results should be reproducible by readers who have access to MATLAB and there is considerable scope for experimentation in the "computational laboratory " provided by the software. Developments in the field since the first edition was published have been represented in three new chapters covering optimization with PDE constraints (Chapter 5); solution of unsteady Navier-Stokes equations (Chapter 10); solution of models of buoyancy-driven flow (Chapter 11). Each chapter has many theoretical problems and practical computer exercises that involve the use of the IFISS software. This book is suitable as an introduction to iterative linear solvers or more generally as a model of Scientific Computing at an advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate level.

The authors' intended audience is at the level of graduate students and researchers, and we believe that the text offers a valuable contribution to all finite element researchers who would like to broadened both their fundamental and applied knowledge of the field. - Spencer J. Sherwin and Robert M. Kirby, Fluid Mechanics, Vol 557, 2006.

This book is a description of why and how to do Scientific Computing for fundamental models of fluid flow. It contains introduction, motivation, analysis, and algorithms and is closely tied to freely available MATLAB codes that implement the methods described. The focus is on finite element approximation methods and fast iterative solution methods for the consequent linear(ized) systems arising in important problems that model incompressible fluid flow. The problems addressed are the Poisson equation, Convection-Diffusion problem, Stokes problem and Navier-Stokes problem, including new material on time-dependent problems and models of multi-physics. The corresponding iterative algebra based on preconditioned Krylov subspace and multigrid techniques is for symmetric and positive definite, nonsymmetric positive definite, symmetric indefinite and nonsymmetric indefinite matrix systems respectively. For each problem and associated solvers there is a description of how to compute together with theoretical analysis that guides the choice of approaches and describes what happens in practice in the many illustrative numerical results throughout the book (computed with the freely downloadable IFISS software). All of the numerical results should be reproducible by readers who have access to MATLAB and there is considerable scope for experimentation in the "computational laboratory " provided by the software. Developments in the field since the first edition was published have been represented in three new chapters covering optimization with PDE constraints (Chapter 5); solution of unsteady Navier-Stokes equations (Chapter 10); solution of models of buoyancy-driven flow (Chapter 11). Each chapter has many theoretical problems and practical computer exercises that involve the use of the IFISS software. This book is suitable as an introduction to iterative linear solvers or more generally as a model of Scientific Computing at an advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate level.

This introduction to the theory of Sobolev spaces and Hilbert space methods in partial differential equations is geared toward readers of modest mathematical backgrounds. It offers coherent, accessible demonstrations of the use of these techniques in developing the foundations of the theory of finite element approximations. J. T. Oden is Director of the Institute for Computational Engineering & Sciences (ICES) at the University of Texas at Austin, and J. N. Reddy is a Professor of Engineering at Texas A&M University. They developed this essentially self-contained text from their seminars and courses for students with diverse educational backgrounds. Their effective presentation begins with introductory accounts of the theory of distributions, Sobolev spaces, intermediate spaces and duality, the theory of elliptic equations, and variational boundary value problems. The second half of the text explores the theory of finite element interpolation, finite element methods for elliptic equations, and finite element methods for initial boundary value problems. Detailed proofs of the major theorems appear throughout the text, in addition to numerous examples.

Introduce every concept in the simplest setting and to maintain a level of treatment that is as rigorous as possible without being unnecessarily abstract. Contains unique recent developments of various finite elements such as nonconforming, mixed, discontinuous, characteristic, and adaptive finite elements, along with their applications. Describes unique recent applications of finite element methods to important fields such as multiphase flows in porous media and semiconductor modelling. Treats the three major types of partial differential equations, i.e., elliptic, parabolic, and hyperbolic equations.