An operator-splitting Galerkin/SUPG finite element method for population balance equations : stability and convergence
ESAIM: Mathematical Modelling and Numerical Analysis - Modélisation Mathématique et Analyse Numérique, Tome 46 (2012) no. 6, pp. 1447-1465.

We present a heterogeneous finite element method for the solution of a high-dimensional population balance equation, which depends both the physical and the internal property coordinates. The proposed scheme tackles the two main difficulties in the finite element solution of population balance equation: (i) spatial discretization with the standard finite elements, when the dimension of the equation is more than three, (ii) spurious oscillations in the solution induced by standard Galerkin approximation due to pure advection in the internal property coordinates. The key idea is to split the high-dimensional population balance equation into two low-dimensional equations, and discretize the low-dimensional equations separately. In the proposed splitting scheme, the shape of the physical domain can be arbitrary, and different discretizations can be applied to the low-dimensional equations. In particular, we discretize the physical and internal spaces with the standard Galerkin and Streamline Upwind Petrov Galerkin (SUPG) finite elements, respectively. The stability and error estimates of the Galerkin/SUPG finite element discretization of the population balance equation are derived. It is shown that a slightly more regularity, i.e. the mixed partial derivatives of the solution has to be bounded, is necessary for the optimal order of convergence. Numerical results are presented to support the analysis.

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1051/m2an/2012012
Classification : 35K20,  65M60,  65M12
Mots clés : population balance equations, operator-splitting method, error analysis, streamline upwind Petrov Galerkin finite element methods, backward Euler scheme
@article{M2AN_2012__46_6_1447_0,
author = {Ganesan, Sashikumaar},
title = {An operator-splitting Galerkin/SUPG finite element method for population balance equations : stability and convergence},
journal = {ESAIM: Mathematical Modelling and Numerical Analysis - Mod\'elisation Math\'ematique et Analyse Num\'erique},
pages = {1447--1465},
publisher = {EDP-Sciences},
volume = {46},
number = {6},
year = {2012},
doi = {10.1051/m2an/2012012},
zbl = {1273.65143},
mrnumber = {2996335},
language = {en},
url = {http://archive.numdam.org/articles/10.1051/m2an/2012012/}
}
Ganesan, Sashikumaar. An operator-splitting Galerkin/SUPG finite element method for population balance equations : stability and convergence. ESAIM: Mathematical Modelling and Numerical Analysis - Modélisation Mathématique et Analyse Numérique, Tome 46 (2012) no. 6, pp. 1447-1465. doi : 10.1051/m2an/2012012. http://archive.numdam.org/articles/10.1051/m2an/2012012/

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