Cell centered Galerkin methods for diffusive problems

IFP Energies nouvelles, 1 & 4 avenue de Bois Préau, 92582 Rueil-Malmaison Cedex, France. daniale-antonio.di-pietro@ifpen.fr

Received: 23 August 2010
Revised: 13 December 2010

Abstract

In this work we introduce a new class of lowest order methods for diffusive problems on general meshes with only one unknown per element. The underlying idea is to construct an incomplete piecewise affine polynomial space with optimal approximation properties starting from values at cell centers. To do so we borrow ideas from multi-point finite volume methods, although we use them in a rather different context. The incomplete polynomial space replaces classical complete polynomial spaces in discrete formulations inspired by discontinuous Galerkin methods. Two problems are studied in this work: a heterogeneous anisotropic diffusion problem, which is used to lay the pillars of the method, and the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations, which provide a more realistic application. An exhaustive theoretical study as well as a set of numerical examples featuring different difficulties are provided.