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Title: Are Bilinear Quadrilaterals Better Than Linear Triangles?

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/814567· OSTI ID:814567

This paper compares the theoretical effectiveness of bilinear approximation over quadrilaterals with linear approximation over triangles. Anisotropic mesh transformation is used to generate asymptotically optimally efficient meshes for piecewise linear interpolation over triangles and bilinear interpolation over quadrilaterals. For approximating a convex function, although bilinear quadrilaterals are more efficient, linear triangles are more accurate and may be preferred in finite element computations; whereas for saddle-shaped functions, quadrilaterals may offer a higher order approximation on a well-designed mesh. A surprising finding is different grid orientations may yield an order of magnitude improvement in approximation accuracy.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
OFFICE OF ENERGY RESEARCH, DOE (US)
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
814567
Report Number(s):
ORNL/TM-12388; TRN: US200318%%55
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: 1 Jan 1993
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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