Viele Probleme der Riss- und Bruchmechanik sowie der mathematischen Physik lassen sich auf Lösungen von singulären Integralgleichungen über einem Intervall zurückführen. Diese Gleichungen setzen sich im Wesentlichen aus dem Cauchy'schen singulären Integraloperator und zusätzlichen Integraloperatoren mit festen Singularitäten in den jeweiligen Kernen zusammen. Zur numerischen Lösung solcher Gleichungen werden polynomiale Kollokations-Quadraturverfahren betrachet. Als Ansatzfunktionen und Kollokationspunkte werden dabei gewichtete Polynome und Tschebyscheff-Knoten gewählt. Die Gewichte sind so gewählt, dass diese das asymptotische Verhalten der Lösung in den Randpunkten widerspiegeln. Mit Hilfe von C*-Algebra Techniken, werden in dieser Arbeit notwendige und hinreichende Bedingungen für die Stabilität der Kollokations-Quadraturverfahren angegeben. Die theoretischen Resultate werden dabei durch numerische Berechnungen anhand des Problems der angerissenen Halbebene und des angerissenen Loches überprüft.

Der Strahlungstransport stellt eine von drei Arten des Wärmetransports zwischen Gebieten unterschiedlicher Temperatur dar. Eine der einfachsten Formen bildet der Strahlungstransport im Vakuum, ein Vorgang, der im kosmischen Umfeld, beispielsweise bei der Energieübertragung von einem Stern auf seine Planeten, beobachtbar ist. Hierbei ist es hinreichend, sich auf die Betrachtung von Oberflächen zu beschränken. Strahlungstransport kann jedoch auch in semitransparenten Medien, wie biologischem Gewebe oder Glas, beobachtet werden. Das Medium, in dem der Strahlungstransport erfolgt, wirkt sich durch Vorgänge wie Absorption, Emission, Reflexion oder Streuung auf den Strahlungstransport aus. Für die Modellierung des Strahlungstransports in einem solchen Umfeld können verschiedene Modelle, darunter das Strahlenmodell, genutzt werden. Dieses Modell beschreibt den Wärmetransport anhand einer skalaren Größe, die Strahlungsintensität genannt wird. Betrachtet wird die Strahlungsintensität in diesem Modell entlang eines Strahls in eine vorgegebene Richtung. Die mathematische Darstellung des Strahlenmodells des Strahlungstransports in partizipierenden Medien führt auf eine richtungsabhängige Integro-Differentialgleichung. Ist die Richtungsabhängigkeit nicht von Interesse, so kann der Übergang zu einer winkelintegrierten Form erfolgen. Dieser Übergang führt schließlich auf ein System schwach singulärer fredholmscher Integralgleichungen zweiter Art. Dieses charakterisiert nun nicht mehr die erwähnte Strahlungsintensität, sondern beschreibt die sogenannte Einstrahlung sowie den Strahlungsfluss. Das System singulärer Integralgleichungen kann mittels eines Galerkin-Ansatzes numerisch gelöst werden. Geht man von einer hinreichenden Glattheit des Randes aus, kann die Kompaktheit des Operators der Integralgleichungen gezeigt werden. Dies wiederum erlaubt Rückschlüsse auf die Existenz und Eindeutigkeit einer Lösung. Ein Augenmerk bei der Ermittlung der Galerkin-Näherung ist auf die Bestimmung der singulären Integrale der Galerkin-Diskretisierung zu richten. Für die Bestimmung multidimensionaler, singulärer Integrale stellt die Arbeit das Verfahren der hierarchischen Integration vor. Basierend auf einer Zerlegung des Integrationsgebietes, erfolgt die Beschreibung singulärer Integrale durch ein Gleichungssystem, dessen rechte Seite nur von regulären Integralen abhängig ist. Können diese regulären Integrale sowie die Lösung des Gleichungssystems exakt bestimmt werden, so sind auch die singulären Integrale exakt bestimmt. Bei einer numerischen Bestimmung der regulären Integrale ist die Fehlerordnung ausschlaggebend für den Fehler der singulären Integrale. Als Integrationsgebiete werden Hyperwürfel beliebiger Dimension sowie Simplizes bis einschließlich Dimension 3 als Integrationsgebiete betrachtet. Als Voraussetzungen an den Kern des Doppelintegrals sind nur die Eigenschaften der Translationsinvarianz sowie der Homogenität zu richten. Kann ein nicht translationsinvarianter oder nicht homogener Kern eines Integrals in Summanden zerlegt werden, die selbst translationsinvariant und homogen sind, ist auch die Bestimmung solcher Integrale möglich. Darüber hinaus stellt die Arbeit Verbindungen zu dem Begriff des Hadamard partie finie her. Auf diese Weise lässt sich das Verfahren der hierarchischen Integration für beliebige Dimensionen und beliebige Singularitätsordnungen anwenden. Die Strahlungstransportgleichung ist im Allgemeinen mittels eines Galerkin-Ansatzes lösbar, führt jedoch auf eine voll besetzte Systemmatrix. Numerische Beispiele beleuchten daher Methoden der Matrixkompression mittels hierarchischer Matrizen sowie der direkten Erzeugung schwach besetzter Matrizen über regulären Gittern und Gittern mit hängenden Knoten und skizziert Ansätze zur Parallelisierung auf entsprechenden Computersystemen.

In the present thesis it is shown that the most natural choice for a norm for the analysis of the Galerkin FEM, namely the energy norm, fails to capture the boundary layer functions arising in certain reaction-diffusion problems. In view of a formal Definition such reaction-diffusion problems are not singularly perturbed with respect to the energy norm. This observation raises two questions: 1. Does the Galerkin finite element method on standard meshes yield satisfactory approximations for the reaction-diffusion problem with respect to the energy norm? 2. Is it possible to strengthen the energy norm in such a way that the boundary layers are captured and that it can be reconciled with a robust finite element method, i.e.~robust with respect to this strong norm? In Chapter 2 we answer the first question. We show that the Galerkin finite element approximation converges uniformly in the energy norm to the solution of the reaction-diffusion problem on standard shape regular meshes. These results are completely new in two dimensions and are confirmed by numerical experiments. We also study certain convection-diffusion problems with characterisitc layers in which some layers are not well represented in the energy norm. These theoretical findings, validated by numerical experiments, have interesting implications for adaptive methods. Moreover, they lead to a re-evaluation of other results and methods in the literature. In 2011 Lin and Stynes were the first to devise a method for a reaction-diffusion problem posed in the unit square allowing for uniform a priori error estimates in an adequate so-called balanced norm. Thus, the aforementioned second question is answered in the affirmative. Obtaining a non-standard weak formulation by testing also with derivatives of the test function is the key idea which is related to the H^1-Galerkin methods developed in the early 70s. Unfortunately, this direct approach requires excessive smoothness of the finite element space considered. Lin and Stynes circumvent this problem by rewriting their problem into a first order system and applying a mixed method. Now the norm captures the layers. Therefore, they need to be resolved by some layer-adapted mesh. Lin and Stynes obtain optimal error estimates with respect to the balanced norm on Shishkin meshes. However, their method is unable to preserve the symmetry of the problem and they rely on the Raviart-Thomas element for H^div-conformity. In Chapter 4 of the thesis a new continuous interior penalty (CIP) method is present, embracing the approach of Lin and Stynes in the context of a broken Sobolev space. The resulting method induces a balanced norm in which uniform error estimates are proven. In contrast to the mixed method the CIP method uses standard Q_2-elements on the Shishkin meshes. Both methods feature improved stability properties in comparison with the Galerkin FEM. Nevertheless, the latter also yields approximations which can be shown to converge to the true solution in a balanced norm uniformly with respect to diffusion parameter. Again, numerical experiments are conducted that agree with the theoretical findings. In every finite element analysis the approximation error comes into play, eventually. If one seeks to prove any of the results mentioned on an anisotropic family of Shishkin meshes, one will need to take advantage of the different element sizes close to the boundary. While these are ideally suited to reflect the solution behavior, the error analysis is more involved and depends on anisotropic interpolation error estimates. In Chapter 3 the beautiful theory of Apel and Dobrowolski is extended in order to obtain anisotropic interpolation error estimates for macro-element interpolation. This also sheds light on fundamental construction principles for such operators. The thesis introduces a non-standard finite element space that consists of biquadratic C^1-finite elements on macro-elements over tensor product grids, which can be viewed as a rectangular version of the C^1-Powell-Sabin element. As an application of the general theory developed, several interpolation operators mapping into this FE space are analyzed. The insight gained can also be used to prove anisotropic error estimates for the interpolation operator induced by the well-known C^1-Bogner-Fox-Schmidt element. A special modification of Scott-Zhang type and a certain anisotropic interpolation operator are also discussed in detail. The results of this chapter are used to approximate the solution to a recation-diffusion-problem on a Shishkin mesh that features highly anisotropic elements. The obtained approximation features continuous normal derivatives across certain edges of the mesh, enabling the analysis of the aforementioned CIP method.

In the present thesis it is shown that the most natural choice for a norm for the analysis of the Galerkin FEM, namely the energy norm, fails to capture the boundary layer functions arising in certain reaction-diffusion problems. In view of a formal Definition such reaction-diffusion problems are not singularly perturbed with respect to the energy norm. This observation raises two questions: 1. Does the Galerkin finite element method on standard meshes yield satisfactory approximations for the reaction-diffusion problem with respect to the energy norm? 2. Is it possible to strengthen the energy norm in such a way that the boundary layers are captured and that it can be reconciled with a robust finite element method, i.e.~robust with respect to this strong norm? In Chapter 2 we answer the first question. We show that the Galerkin finite element approximation converges uniformly in the energy norm to the solution of the reaction-diffusion problem on standard shape regular meshes. These results are completely new in two dimensions and are confirmed by numerical experiments. We also study certain convection-diffusion problems with characterisitc layers in which some layers are not well represented in the energy norm. These theoretical findings, validated by numerical experiments, have interesting implications for adaptive methods. Moreover, they lead to a re-evaluation of other results and methods in the literature. In 2011 Lin and Stynes were the first to devise a method for a reaction-diffusion problem posed in the unit square allowing for uniform a priori error estimates in an adequate so-called balanced norm. Thus, the aforementioned second question is answered in the affirmative. Obtaining a non-standard weak formulation by testing also with derivatives of the test function is the key idea which is related to the H^1-Galerkin methods developed in the early 70s. Unfortunately, this direct approach requires excessive smoothness of the finite element space considered. Lin and Stynes circumvent this problem by rewriting their problem into a first order system and applying a mixed method. Now the norm captures the layers. Therefore, they need to be resolved by some layer-adapted mesh. Lin and Stynes obtain optimal error estimates with respect to the balanced norm on Shishkin meshes. However, their method is unable to preserve the symmetry of the problem and they rely on the Raviart-Thomas element for H^div-conformity. In Chapter 4 of the thesis a new continuous interior penalty (CIP) method is present, embracing the approach of Lin and Stynes in the context of a broken Sobolev space. The resulting method induces a balanced norm in which uniform error estimates are proven. In contrast to the mixed method the CIP method uses standard Q_2-elements on the Shishkin meshes. Both methods feature improved stability properties in comparison with the Galerkin FEM. Nevertheless, the latter also yields approximations which can be shown to converge to the true solution in a balanced norm uniformly with respect to diffusion parameter. Again, numerical experiments are conducted that agree with the theoretical findings. In every finite element analysis the approximation error comes into play, eventually. If one seeks to prove any of the results mentioned on an anisotropic family of Shishkin meshes, one will need to take advantage of the different element sizes close to the boundary. While these are ideally suited to reflect the solution behavior, the error analysis is more involved and depends on anisotropic interpolation error estimates. In Chapter 3 the beautiful theory of Apel and Dobrowolski is extended in order to obtain anisotropic interpolation error estimates for macro-element interpolation. This also sheds light on fundamental construction principles for such operators. The thesis introduces a non-standard finite element space that consists of biquadratic C^1-finite elements on macro-elements over tensor product grids, which can be viewed as a rectangular version of the C^1-Powell-Sabin element. As an application of the general theory developed, several interpolation operators mapping into this FE space are analyzed. The insight gained can also be used to prove anisotropic error estimates for the interpolation operator induced by the well-known C^1-Bogner-Fox-Schmidt element. A special modification of Scott-Zhang type and a certain anisotropic interpolation operator are also discussed in detail. The results of this chapter are used to approximate the solution to a recation-diffusion-problem on a Shishkin mesh that features highly anisotropic elements. The obtained approximation features continuous normal derivatives across certain edges of the mesh, enabling the analysis of the aforementioned CIP method.:Notation 1 Introduction 2 Galerkin FEM error estimation in weak norms 2.1 Reaction-diffusion problems 2.2 A convection-diffusion problem with weak characteristic layers and a Neumann outflow condition 2.3 A mesh that resolves only part of the exponential layer and neglects the weaker characteristic layers 2.3.1 Weakly imposed characteristic boundary conditions 2.4 Numerical experiments 2.4.1 A reaction-diffusion problem with boundary layers 2.4.2 A reaction-diffusion problem with an interior layer 2.4.3 A convection-diffusion problem with characteristic layers and a Neumann outflow condition 2.4.4 A mesh that resolves only part of the exponential layer and neglects the weaker characteristic layers 3 Macro-interpolation on tensor product meshes 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Univariate C1-P2 macro-element interpolation 3.3 C1-Q2 macro-element interpolation on tensor product meshes 3.4 A theory on anisotropic macro-element interpolation 3.5 C1 macro-interpolation on anisotropic tensor product meshes 3.5.1 A reduced macro-element interpolation operator 3.5.2 The full C1-Q2 interpolation operator 3.5.3 A C1-Q2 macro-element quasi-interpolation operator of Scott-Zhang type on tensor product meshes 3.5.4 Summary: anisotropic C1 (quasi-)interpolation error estimates 3.6 An anisotropic macro-element of tensor product type 3.7 Application of macro-element interpolation on a tensor product Shishkin mesh 4 Balanced norm results for reaction-diffusion 4.1 The balanced finite element method of Lin and Stynes 4.2 A C0 interior penalty method 4.3 Galerkin finite element method 4.3.1 L2-norm error bounds and supercloseness 4.3.2 Maximum-norm error bounds 4.4 Numerical verification 4.5 Further developments and summary References