Superconvergence of semidiscrete finite element methods for bilinear parabolic optimal control problems

Abstract

Abstract In this paper, a semidiscrete finite element method for solving bilinear parabolic optimal control problems is considered. Firstly, we present a finite element approximation of the model problem. Secondly, we bring in some important intermediate variables and their error estimates. Thirdly, we derive a priori error estimates of the approximation scheme. Finally, we obtain the superconvergence between the semidiscrete finite element solutions and projections of the exact solutions. A numerical example is presented to verify our theoretical results.

Keywords

• superconvergence
• finite element method
• bilinear parabolic optimal control problems