A Hermite Cubic Immersed Finite Element Space for Beam Design Problems

This thesis develops an immersed finite element (IFE) space for numerical simulations arising from beam design with multiple materials. This IFE space is based upon meshes that can be independent of interface of the materials used to form a beam. Both the forward and inverse problems associated with the beam equation are considered. The order of accuracy of this IFE space is numerically investigated from the point of view of both the interpolation and finite element solution of the interface boundary value problems. Both single and multiple interfaces are considered in our numerical simulation. The results demonstrate that this IFE space has the optimal order of approximation capability.