Superconvergence Analysis of C^(m)Finite Element Methods for Fourth-Order Elliptic Equations I:One Dimensional Case

In this paper,we study three families of C^(m)(m=0,1,2)finite element methods for one dimensional fourth-order equations.They include C^(0)and C1 Galerkin methods and a C^(2)-C^(0)Petrov-Galerkin method.Existence,uniqueness and optimal error estimates of the numerical solution are established.A unified approach is proposed to study the superconvergence property of these methods.We prove that,for kth-order elements,the C^(0)and C1 finite element solutions and their derivative are superconvergent with rate h2k−2(k≥3)at all mesh nodes;while the solution of the C^(2)-C^(0)Petrov-Galerkin method and its first-and second-order derivatives are superconvergent with rate h^(2k−4)(k≥5)at all mesh nodes.Furthermore,interior superconvergence points for the l-th(0≤l≤m+1)derivate approximations are also discovered,which are identified as roots of special Jacobi polynomials,Lobatto points,and Gauss points.As a by-product,we prove that the C^(m)finite element solution is superconvergent towards a particular Jacobi projection of the exact solution in the Hl(0≤l≤m+1)norms.All theoretical findings are confirmed by numerical experiments.