Volume 36, Issue 6

We are concerned with an Interior Penalty Discontinuous Galerkin (IPDG) approximation of the p -Laplace equation and an equilibrated a posteriori error estimator. The IPDG method can be derived from a discretization of the associated minimization problem involving appropriately defined reconstruction operators. The equilibrated a posteriori error estimator provides an upper bound for the discretization error in the broken W 1, p norm and relies on the construction of an equilibrated flux in terms of a numerical flux function associated with the mixed formulation of the IPDG approximation. The relationship with a residual-type a posteriori error estimator is established as well. Numerical results illustrate the performance of both estimators.

A comparative analysis of the differential and the corresponding stochastic Poisson SEIR-models is performed for the test problem of COVID-19 epidemic in Novosibirsk modelling the period from March 23, 2020 to June 21, 2020 with the initial population N = 2 798 170. Varying the initial population in the form N = n m with m ⩾ 2, we show that the average numbers of identified sick patients is less (beginning from April 7, 2020) than the corresponding differential values by the quantity that does not differ statistically from C ( t )/ m , with C ≈ 27.3 on June 21, 2020. This relationship allows us to use the stochastic model for big population N . The practically useful ‘two sigma’ confidential interval for the time interval from June 1, 2020 to June 21, 2020 is about 108% (as to the statistical average) and involves the corresponding real statistical estimates. The influence of the introduction of delay on the prognosis, i.e., the incubation period corresponding to Poisson model is also studied.

The problem of stability and sensitivity of functionals of the optimal solution of the variational data assimilation of sea surface temperature for the model of sea thermodynamics is considered. The variational data assimilation problem is formulated as an optimal control problem to find the initial state and the boundary heat flux. The sensitivity of the response functions as functionals of the optimal solution with respect to the observation data is studied. Computing the gradient of the response function reduces to the solution of a non-standard problem being a coupled system of direct and adjoint equations with mutually dependent initial and boundary values. The algorithm to compute the gradient of the response function is presented, based on the Hessian of the original cost functional. Stability analysis of the response function with respect to uncertainties of input data is given. Numerical examples are presented for the Black and Azov seas thermodynamics model.

This article is dedicated to the general finite-volume framework used to discretize and solve saddle-point problems of various physics. The framework applies the Ostrogradsky–Gauss theorem to transform a divergent part of the partial differential equation into a surface integral, approximated by the summation of vector fluxes over interfaces. The interface vector fluxes are reconstructed using the harmonic averaging point concept resulting in the unique vector flux even in a heterogeneous anisotropic medium. The vector flux is modified with the consideration of eigenvalues in matrix coefficients at vector unknowns to address both the hyperbolic and saddle-point problems, causing nonphysical oscillations and an inf-sup stability issue. We apply the framework to several problems of various physics, namely incompressible elasticity problem, incompressible Navier–Stokes, Brinkman–Hazen–Dupuit–Darcy, Biot, and Maxwell equations and explain several nuances of the application. Finally, we test the framework on simple analytical solutions.