Finite element solution of the Helmholtz equation with high wave number Part I: The h-version of the FEM

The paper addresses the properties of finite element solutions for the Helmholtz equation. The h-version of the finite element method with piecewise linear approximation is applied to a one-dimensional model problem. New results are shown on stability and error estimation of the discrete model. In all propositions, assumptions are made on the magnitude of hk only, where k is the wavelength and h is the stepwidth of the FE-mesh. Previous analytical results had been shown with the assumption that k2h is small. For medium and high wavenumber, these results do not cover the meshsizes that are applied in practical applications. The main estimate reveals that the error in H1-norm of discrete solutions for the Helmholtz equation is polluted when k2h is not small. The error is then not quasioptimal; i.e., the relation of the FE-error to the error of best approximation generally depends on the wavenumber k. It is noted that the pollution term in the relative error is of the same order as the phase lead of the numerical solution. In the result of this analysis, thorough and rigorous understanding of error behavior throughout the range of convergence is gained. Numerical results are presented that show sharpness of the error estimates and highlight some phenomena of the discrete solution behavior. The h-p-version of the FEM is studied in Part II.