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A numerical method for solving three-dimensional elliptic interface problems with triple junction points

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Abstract

Elliptic interface problems with multi-domains have wide applications in engineering and science. However, it is challenging for most existing methods to solve three-dimensional elliptic interface problems with multi-domains due to local geometric complexity, especially for problems with matrix coefficient and sharp-edged interface. There are some recent work in two dimensions for multi-domains and in three dimensions for two domains. However, the extension to three dimensional multi-domain elliptic interface problems is non-trivial. In this paper, we present an efficient non-traditional finite element method with non-body-fitting grids for three-dimensional elliptic interface problems with multi-domains. Numerical experiments show that this method achieves close to second order accurate in the L norm for piecewise smooth solutions.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the reviewers for their effort helping us to improve the manuscript. L. Shi’s research is supported by Science Foundations of China University of Political Science and Law [Grant numbers 1000-10816106 and 1000-10816330]. S. Hou’s research is supported by National Science Foundation [Grant number DMS-1317994] and Dr. Walter Koss Professorship. L. Wang’s research is supported by Science Foundations of China University of Petroleum–Beijing [Grant numbers 2462015BJB05, 2462015YQ0604 and 2462015QZDX02].

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Correspondence to Liwei Shi.

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Communicated by: John Lowengrub

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Wang, L., Hou, S. & Shi, L. A numerical method for solving three-dimensional elliptic interface problems with triple junction points. Adv Comput Math 44, 175–193 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10444-017-9539-7

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