Finite Element Approach for the Solution of First-Order Differential Equations

Abstract

The finite element method has established itself as an efficient numerical procedure for the solution of arbitrary-shaped field problems in space. Basically, the finite element method transforms the underlying differential equation into a system of algebraic equations by application of the method of weighted residuals in conjunction with a finite element ansatz. However, this procedure is restricted to even-ordered differential equations and leads to symmetric system matrices as a key property of the finite element method. This paper aims in a generalization of the finite element method towards the solution of first-order differential equations. This is achieved by an approach which replaces the first-order derivative by fractional powers of operators making use of the square root of a Sturm-Liouville operator. The resulting procedure incorporates a finite element formulation and leads to a symmetric but dense system matrix. Finally, the scheme is applied to the barometric equation where the results are compared with the analytical solution and other numerical approaches. It turns out that the resulting numerical scheme shows excellent convergence properties.