Georgia Institute of Technology College of Sciences

Weak Galerkin (WG) is a new finite element method for partial differential equations where the differential operators (e.g., gradient, divergence, curl, Laplacian etc) in the variational forms are approximated by weak forms as generalized distributions. The WG discretization procedure often involves the solution of inexpensive problems defined locally on each element. The solution from the local problems can be regarded as a reconstruction of the corresponding differential operators. The fundamental difference between the weak Galerkin finite element method and other existing methods is the use of weak functions and weak derivatives (i.e., locally reconstructed differential operators) in the design of numerical schemes based on existing variational forms for the underlying PDE problems. Weak Galerkin is, therefore, a natural extension of the conforming Galerkin finite element method. Due to its great structural flexibility, the weak Galerkin finite element method is well suited to most partial differential equations by providing the needed stability and accuracy in approximation. In this talk, the speaker will introduce a general framework for WG methods by using the second order elliptic problem as an example. Furthermore, the speaker will present WG finite element methods for several model PDEs, including the linear elasticity problem, a fourth order problem arising from fluorescence tomography, and the second order problem in nondivergence form. The talk should be accessible to graduate students with adequate training in computational mathematics.