A PRIORI ERROR ESTIMATES FOR MIXED FINITE ELEMENT APPROXIMATIONS OF THE ACOUSTIC WAVE EQUATION.

In this paper we derive optimal a priori L[SUP&infi;](L[SUP2]) error estimates for mixed finite element displacement formulations of the acoustic wave equation. The computational complexity of this approach is equivalent to the traditional mixed finite element formulations of the second order hyperbolic equations in which the primary unknowns are pressure and the gradient of pressure. However, the displacement formulations with the physical variables of interest, displacement and pressure, requires less regularity on the displacement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]