Finite elements formulated by the weighted discrete least squares method

Abstract

Abstract By use of the least squares error criterion, an alternate finite element formulation is presented. The method is based on the discrete or element‐wise minimization of square and weighted differential equation residuals which are expressed in terms of element nodal quantities. In order to overcome the stringent inter‐element continuity requirement, a major stumbling block, on the element trial functions two practical schemes are proposed. One is the reduction of the original governing differential equation to a system of equivalent first order differential equations; the other is a method of smoothing discontinous trial functions. The latter essentially relaxes the continuity requirement and yields efficient non‐conforming finite elements. This paper also demonstrates the use of constant weights which significantly improves the rates of convergence. Several numerical examples illustrate the proposed method. From these examples, it may be concluded that the use of constant weights and the relaxation of the inter‐element continuity requirement are two indispensable features of the weighted discrete least square method.