From: bangerth Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2014 14:03:05 +0000 (+0000) Subject: Significantly expand the documentation. X-Git-Url: https://gitweb.dealii.org/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi?a=commitdiff_plain;h=6c93cf220e7598b98c0f794ef3693a9c1ccf8621;p=dealii-svn.git Significantly expand the documentation. git-svn-id: https://svn.dealii.org/trunk@33005 0785d39b-7218-0410-832d-ea1e28bc413d --- diff --git a/deal.II/include/deal.II/fe/fe_tools.h b/deal.II/include/deal.II/fe/fe_tools.h index 53afffb885..854f26041f 100644 --- a/deal.II/include/deal.II/fe/fe_tools.h +++ b/deal.II/include/deal.II/fe/fe_tools.h @@ -1,7 +1,7 @@ // --------------------------------------------------------------------- // $Id$ // -// Copyright (C) 2000 - 2013 by the deal.II authors +// Copyright (C) 2000 - 2014 by the deal.II authors // // This file is part of the deal.II library. // @@ -697,21 +697,64 @@ namespace FETools /** * Gives the patchwise extrapolation of a @p dof1 function @p z1 to a @p - * dof2 function @p z2. @p dof1 and @p dof2 need to be DoFHandler objects based on - * the same triangulation. - * - * This function is used, for example, for extrapolating patchwise a piecewise - * linear solution to a piecewise quadratic solution. - * - * Note that the resulting field does not satisfy continuity requirements of - * the given finite elements. - * + * dof2 function @p z2. @p dof1 and @p dof2 need to be DoFHandler objects + * based on the same triangulation. This function is used, for example, for + * extrapolating patchwise a piecewise linear solution to a piecewise + * quadratic solution. + * + * The function's name is historical and probably not particularly well + * chosen. The function performs the following operations, one after the + * other: + * + * - It interpolates directly from every cell of @p dof1 to the + * corresponding cell of @dof2 using the interpolation matrix of the + * finite element spaces used on these cells and provided by + * the finite element objects involved. This step is done using the + * FETools::interpolate() function. + * - It then performs a loop over all non-active cells of @dof2. If + * such a non-active cell has at least one active child, then we + * call the children of this cell a "patch". We then interpolate + * from the children of this patch to the patch, using the finite + * element space associated with @p dof2 and immediately interpolate + * back to the children. In essence, this information throws away + * all information in the solution vector that lives on a scale + * smaller than the patch cell. + * - Since we traverse non-active cells from the coarsest to the + * finest levels, we may find patches that correspond to child + * cells of previously treated patches if the mesh had been + * refined adaptively (this cannot happen if the mesh has been + * refined globally because there the children of a patch are + * all active). We also perform the operation described above + * on these patches, but it is easy to see that on patches that + * are children of previously treated patches, the operation is + * now the identity operation (since it interpolates from the + * children of the current patch a function that had previously + * been interpolated to these children from an even coarser patch). + * Consequently, this does not alter the solution vector any more. + * + * The name of the function originates from the fact that it can be + * used to construct a representation of a function of higher polynomial + * degree on a once coarser mesh. For example, if you imagine that you + * start with a $Q_1$ function on globally refined mesh, and that @p dof2 + * is associated with a $Q_2$ element, then this function computes the + * equivalent of the operator $I_{2h}^{(2)}$ interpolating the original + * piecewise linear function onto a quadratic function on a once coarser + * mesh with mesh size $2h$ (but representing this function on the original + * mesh with size $h$). If the exact solution is sufficiently smooth, + * then $u^\ast=I_{2h}^{(2)}u_h$ is typically a better approximation to + * the exact solution $u$ of the PDE than $u_h$ is. In other words, this + * function provides a postprocessing step that improves the solution in + * a similar way one often obtains by extrapolating a sequence of solutions, + * explaining the origin of the function's name. + * + * @note The resulting field does not satisfy continuity requirements of + * the given finite elements if the algorithm outlined above is used. * When you use continuous elements on grids with hanging nodes, please use * the @p extrapolate function with an additional ConstraintMatrix argument, * see below. * - * Since this function operates on patches of cells, it is required that the - * underlying grid is refined at least once for every coarse grid cell. If + * @note Since this function operates on patches of cells, it requires that + * the underlying grid is refined at least once for every coarse grid cell. If * this is not the case, an exception will be raised. */ template @@ -728,7 +771,9 @@ namespace FETools * interpolating onto continuous elements on grids with hanging nodes * (locally refined grids). * - * Otherwise, the same holds as for the other @p extrapolate function. + * Otherwise, the function does the same as the other @p extrapolate + * function above (for which the documentation provides an extensive + * description of its operation). */ template void extrapolate (const DoFHandler &dof1,