A finite element method for Dirichlet boundary control problems governed by parabolic PDEs

Abstract: Finite element approximations of Dirichlet boundary control problems governed by parabolic PDEs on convex polygonal domains are studied in this paper. The existence of a unique solution to optimal control problems is guaranteed based on very weak solution of the state equation and $L^2(0,T;L^2(\Gamma))$ as control space. For the numerical discretization of the state equation we use standard piecewise linear and continuous finite elements for the space discretization of the state, while a dG(0) scheme is used for time discretization. The Dirichlet boundary control is realized through a space-time $L^2$-projection. We consider both piecewise linear, continuous finite element approximation and variational discretization for the controls and derive a priori $L^2$-error bounds for controls and states. We finally present numerical examples to support our theoretical findings.