Discontinuous coefficients in the Poisson equation lead to the weak discontinuity in the solution, e.g. the gradient in the field quantity exhibits a rapid change across an interface. In the real world, discontinuities are frequently found (cracks, material interfaces, voids, phase-change phenomena) and their mathematical model can be represented by Poisson type equation. In this study, the extended finite element method (XFEM) is used to solve the formulated discontinuous problem. The XFEM solution introduce the discontinuity through nodal enrichment function, and controls it by additional degrees of freedom. This allows one to make the finite element mesh independent of discontinuity location. The quality of the solution depends mainly on the assumed enrichment basis functions. In the paper, a new set of enrichments are proposed in the solution of the Poisson equation with discontinuous coefficients. The global and local error estimates are used in order to assess the quality of the solution. The stability of the solution is investigated using the condition number of the stiffness matrix. The solutions obtained with standard and new enrichment functions are compared and discussed.
In the paper, the extended finite element method (XFEM) is combined with a recovery procedure in the analysis of the discontinuous Poisson problem. The model considers the weak as well as the strong discontinuity. Computationally efficient low-order finite elements provided good convergence are used. The combination of the XFEM with a recovery procedure allows for optimal convergence rates in the gradient i.e. as the same order as the primary solution. The discontinuity is modelled independently of the finite element mesh using a step-enrichment and level set approach. The results show improved gradient prediction locally for the interface element and globally for the entire domain.
In this work we discuss 3D selfconsistent solution of Poisson and Schrödinger equations for electrostatically formed quantum dot. 3D simulations give detailed insight into the energy spectrum of the device and allow us to find values of respective voltages ensuring given number of electrons in the dot. We performed calculations for fully 3D potential and apart from that calculations for the same potential separated into two independent parts, i.e. regarding to the plane of 2DEG and to the direction perpendicular to the meant plane. We found that calculations done for the two independent parts of the potential give good information about quantum dot properties and they are much faster compared to fully 3D simulations.