The nearly-optimal Petrov-Galerkin method for convection-diffusion problems

The nearly-optimal Petrov-Galerkin (NOPG) method is employed to improve finite element computation of convection-dominated transport phenomena. The design of the NOPG method for convection-diffusion is based on consideration of the advective limit. Nonetheless, the resulting method is applicable to the entire admissible range of problem parameters. An investigation of the stability properties of this method leads to a coercivity inequality. The convergence features of the NOPG method for convection-diffusion are studied in an error analysis that is based on the stability estimates. The proposed method compares favorably to the performance of an established technique on several numerical tests. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.