Effects of boundary conditions on a class of mixed discontinuous finite element methods for reaction-diffusion problems

This paper numerically studies the effects of boundary conditions of different types on a class of mixed discontinuous finite element methods. The focus of this study is on a reaction-diffusion problem in one space dimension, which arises in the modelling and simulation of fluid flows in porous media. Numerical results show that for boundary conditions of certain types these mixed discontinuous methods produce an optimal rate of convergence; for others they generate a sub-optimal rate of convergence. A lower-order term is included in the reaction-diffusion problem, so the numerical study applies to a time-dependent problem as well. Copyright (C) 2002 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.