Konstantin Lipnikov

Convergence of the Mimetic Finite Difference Method for Diffusion Problems on Polyhedral Meshes

The stability and convergence properties of the mimetic finite difference method for diffusion-type problems on polyhedral meshes are analyzed. The optimal convergence rates for the scalar and vector variables in the mixed formulation of the problem are proved.

A FAMILY OF MIMETIC FINITE DIFFERENCE METHODS ON POLYGONAL AND POLYHEDRAL MESHES

A family of inexpensive discretization schemes for diffusion problems on unstructured polygonal and polyhedral meshes is introduced. The material properties are described by a full tensor. The theoretical results are confirmed with numerical experiments.

Monotone finite volume schemes for diffusion equations on unstructured triangular and shape-regular polygonal meshes

We consider a non-linear finite volume (FV) scheme for stationary diffusion equation. We prove that the scheme is monotone, i.e. it preserves positivity of analytical solutions on arbitrary triangular meshes for strongly anisotropic and heterogeneous full tensor coefficients. The scheme is extended to regular star-shaped polygonal meshes and isotropic heterogeneous coefficients.

Mimetic finite difference method

The mimetic finite difference (MFD) method mimics fundamental properties of mathematical and physical systems including conservation laws, symmetry and positivity of solutions, duality and self-adjointness of differential operators, and exact mathematical identities of the vector and tensor calculus. This article is the first comprehensive review of the 50-year long history of the mimetic methodology and describes in a systematic way the major mimetic ideas and their relevance to academic and real-life problems. The supporting applications include diffusion, electromagnetics, fluid flow, and Lagrangian hydrodynamics problems. The article provides enough details to build various discrete operators on unstructured polygonal and polyhedral meshes and summarizes the major convergence results for the mimetic approximations. Most of these theoretical results, which are presented here as lemmas, propositions and theorems, are either original or an extension of existing results to a more general formulation using polyhedral meshes. Finally, flexibility and extensibility of the mimetic methodology are shown by deriving higher-order approximations, enforcing discrete maximum principles for diffusion problems, and ensuring the numerical stability for saddle-point systems.

Interpolation-free monotone finite volume method for diffusion equations on polygonal meshes

We developed a new monotone finite volume method for diffusion equations. The second-order linear methods, such as the multipoint flux approximation, mixed finite element and mimetic finite difference methods, are not monotone on strongly anisotropic meshes or for diffusion problems with strongly anisotropic coefficients. The finite volume (FV) method with linear two-point flux approximation is monotone but not even first-order accurate in these cases. The developed monotone method is based on a nonlinear two-point flux approximation. It does not require any interpolation scheme and thus differs from other nonlinear finite volume methods based on a two-point flux approximation. The second-order convergence rate is verified with numerical experiments.

Local flux mimetic finite difference methods

We develop a local flux mimetic finite difference method for second order elliptic equations with full tensor coefficients on polyhedral meshes. To approximate the velocity (vector variable), the method uses two degrees of freedom per element edge in two dimensions and n degrees of freedom per n-gonal mesh face in three dimensions. To approximate the pressure (scalar variable), the method uses one degree of freedom per element. A specially chosen quadrature rule for the L2-product of vector-functions allows for a local flux elimination and reduction of the method to a cell-centered finite difference scheme for the pressure unknowns. Under certain assumptions, first-order convergence is proved for both variables and second-order convergence is proved for the pressure. The assumptions are verified on simplicial meshes for a particular quadrature rule that leads to a symmetric method. For general polyhedral meshes, non-symmetric methods are constructed based on quadrature rules that are shown to satisfy some of the assumptions. Numerical results confirm the theory.

The mimetic finite difference method for elliptic problems

1 Model elliptic problems.- 2 Foundations of mimetic finite difference method.- 3 Mimetic inner products and reconstruction operators.- 4 Mimetic discretization of bilinear forms.- 5 The diffusion problem in mixed form.- 6 The diffusion problem in primal form.- 7 Maxwells equations. 8. The Stokes problem. 9 Elasticity and plates.- 10 Other linear and nonlinear mimetic schemes.- 11 Analysis of parameters and maximum principles.- 12 Diffusion problem on generalized polyhedral meshes.

Arbitrary-Order Nodal Mimetic Discretizations of Elliptic Problems on Polygonal Meshes

We develop and analyze a new family of mimetic methods on unstructured polygonal meshes for the diffusion problem in primal form. These methods are derived from the local consistency condition that is exact for polynomials of any degree

CONVERGENCE OF MIMETIC FINITE DIFFERENCE METHOD FOR DIFFUSION PROBLEMS ON POLYHEDRAL MESHES WITH CURVED FACES

m\geq1

Mimetic finite difference method for the Stokes problem on polygonal meshes

. The degrees of freedom are (a) solution values at the quadrature nodes of the Gauss-Lobatto formulas on each mesh edge, and (b) solution moments inside polygons. The convergence of the method is proven theoretically and an optimal error estimate is derived in a mesh-dependent norm that mimics the energy norm. Numerical experiments confirm the convergence rate that is expected from the theory.