Simultaneous quasi-optimal convergence in FEM-BEM coupling

Abstract

We consider the symmetric FEM-BEM coupling that connects two linear elliptic second order partial differential equations posed in a bounded domain $Ω$ and its complement, where the exterior problem is restated by an integral equation on the coupling boundary $Γ=\partialΩ$. We assume that the corresponding transmission problem admits a shift theorem for data in $H^{-1+s}$, $s \in [-1,-1+s_0]$, $s_0 > 1/2$. We analyze the discretization by piecewise polynomials of degree $k$ for the domain variable and piecewise polynomials of degree $k-1$ for the flux variable on the coupling boundary. Given sufficient regularity we show that (up to logarithmic factors) the optimal convergence $O(h^{k+1/2})$ in the $H^{-1/2}(Γ)$-norm is obtained for the flux variable, while classical arguments by Céa-type quasi-optimality and standard approximation results provide only $O(h^k)$ for the overall error in the natural product norm on $H^1(Ω)\times H^{-1/2}(Γ)$.