Adaptive Space-Time Finite Element Methods for Optimization Problems Governed by Nonlinear Parabolic Systems

Abstract

Subject of this work is the development of concepts for the efficient numerical solution of optimization problems governed by parabolic partial differential equations. Optimization problems of this type arise for instance from the optimal control of physical processes and from the identification of unknown parameters in mathematical models describing such processes. For their numerical treatment, these generically infinite-dimensional optimal control and parameter estimation problems have to be discretized by finite-dimensional approximations. This discretization process causes errors which have to be taken into account to obtain reliable numerical results. Focal point of the thesis at hand is the assessment of these discretization errors by a priori and especially a posteriori error analyses. Thereby, we consider Galerkin finite element discretizations of the state and the control variable in space and time. For the a priori analysis, we concentrate on the case of linear-quadratic optimal control problems. In this configuration, we prove error estimates of optimal order with respect to all involved discretization parameters. The a posteriori error estimation techniques are developed for a general class of nonlinear optimization problems. They provide separated and evaluable estimates for the errors caused by the different parts of the discretization and yield refinement indicators, which can be used for the automatic choice of suitable discrete spaces. The usage of adaptive refinement techniques within a strategy for balancing the several error contributions leads to efficient discretizations for the continuous problems. The presented results and developed concepts are substantiated by various numerical examples including large scale optimization problems motivated by concrete applications from engineering and chemistry.