Stabilised hp-Finite Element Approximation of Partial Differential Equations with Nonnegative Characteristic Form

This paper is devoted to the a priori error analysis of the hp-version of a streamline-diffusion finite element method for partial differential equations with nonnegative characteristic form. This class of equations includes second-order elliptic and parabolic problems, first-order hyperbolic problems and second-order problems of mixed elliptic-parabolic-hyperbolic type. We derive error bounds which are simultaneously optimal in both the mesh size h and the spectral order p. Numerical examples are presented to confirm the theoretical results. Received October 28, 1999; revised May 26, 2000