Analysis of a non-standard mixed finite element method with applications to superconvergence

Abstract

We show that a non-standard mixed finite element method proposed by Barrios and Gatica in 2007, is a higher order perturbation of the least-squares mixed finite element method. Therefore, it is also superconvergent whenever the least-squares mixed finite element method is superconvergent. Superconvergence of the latter was earlier investigated by Brandts, Chen and Yang between 2004 and 2006. Since the new method leads to a non-symmetric system matrix, its application seems however more expensive than applying the least-squares mixed finite element method.