A Taylor-Hood finite element method for the surface Stokes problem without penalization

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Demlow, Alan, Neilan, Michael
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Demlow, Alan
Neilan, Michael
author_facet Demlow, Alan
Neilan, Michael
contents Finite element approximation of the velocity-pressure formulation of the surfaces Stokes equations is challenging because it is typically not possible to enforce both tangentiality and $H^1$ conformity of the velocity field. Most previous works concerning finite element methods (FEMs) for these equations thus have weakly enforced one of these two constraints by penalization or a Lagrange multiplier formulation. Recently in [A tangential and penalty-free finite element method for the surface Stokes problem, SINUM 62(1):248-272, 2024], the authors constructed a surface Stokes FEM based on the MINI element which is tangentiality conforming and $H^1$ nonconforming, but possesses sufficient weak continuity properties to circumvent the need for penalization. The key to this method is construction of velocity degrees of freedom lying on element edges and vertices using an auxiliary Piola transform. In this work we extend this methodology to construct Taylor-Hood surface FEMs. The resulting method is shown to achieve optimal-order convergence when the edge degrees of freedom for the velocity space are placed at Gauss-Lobatto nodes. Numerical experiments confirm that this nonstandard placement of nodes is necessary to achieve optimal convergence orders.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_20419
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Taylor-Hood finite element method for the surface Stokes problem without penalization
Demlow, Alan
Neilan, Michael
Numerical Analysis
65N12, 65N15, 65N30
Finite element approximation of the velocity-pressure formulation of the surfaces Stokes equations is challenging because it is typically not possible to enforce both tangentiality and $H^1$ conformity of the velocity field. Most previous works concerning finite element methods (FEMs) for these equations thus have weakly enforced one of these two constraints by penalization or a Lagrange multiplier formulation. Recently in [A tangential and penalty-free finite element method for the surface Stokes problem, SINUM 62(1):248-272, 2024], the authors constructed a surface Stokes FEM based on the MINI element which is tangentiality conforming and $H^1$ nonconforming, but possesses sufficient weak continuity properties to circumvent the need for penalization. The key to this method is construction of velocity degrees of freedom lying on element edges and vertices using an auxiliary Piola transform. In this work we extend this methodology to construct Taylor-Hood surface FEMs. The resulting method is shown to achieve optimal-order convergence when the edge degrees of freedom for the velocity space are placed at Gauss-Lobatto nodes. Numerical experiments confirm that this nonstandard placement of nodes is necessary to achieve optimal convergence orders.
title A Taylor-Hood finite element method for the surface Stokes problem without penalization
topic Numerical Analysis
65N12, 65N15, 65N30
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.20419