Convergence and supercloseness in a balanced norm of finite element methods on Bakhvalov-type meshes for reaction-diffusion problems

Abstract: In convergence analysis of finite element methods for singularly perturbed reaction--diffusion problems, balanced norms have been successfully introduced to replace standard energy norms so that layers can be captured. In this article, we focus on the convergence analysis in a balanced norm on Bakhvalov-type rectangular meshes. In order to achieve our goal, a novel interpolation operator, which consists of a local weighted $L^2$ projection operator and the Lagrange interpolation operator, is introduced for a convergence analysis of optimal order in the balanced norm. The analysis also depends on the stabilities of the $L^2$ projection and the characteristics of Bakhvalov-type meshes. Furthermore, we obtain a supercloseness result in the balanced norm, which appears in the literature for the first time. This result depends on another novel interpolant, which consists of the local weighted $L^2$ projection operator, a vertices-edges-element operator and some corrections on the boundary.