Gianmarco Manzini

P. F. Antonietti, G. Manzini, M. Verani

In this paper we address the numerical approximation of linear fourth-order elliptic problems on polygonal meshes. In particular, we present a novel nonconforming virtual element discretization of arbitrary order of accuracy for biharmonic problems. The approximation space is made of possibly discontinuous functions, thus giving rise to the fully nonconforming virtual element method. We derive optimal error estimates in a suitable (broken) energy norm and present numerical results to assess the validity of the theoretical estimates.

Francesca Gardini, Gianmarco Manzini, Giuseppe Vacca

We analyse the nonconforming Virtual Element Method (VEM) for the approximation of elliptic eigenvalue problems. The nonconforming VEM allow to treat in the same formulation the two- and three-dimensional case.We present two possible formulations of the discrete problem, derived respectively by the nonstabilized and stabilized approximation of the L^2-inner product, and we study the convergence properties of the corresponding discrete eigenvalue problem. The proposed schemes provide a correct approximation of the spectrum, in particular we prove optimal-order error estimates for the eigenfunctions and the usual double order of convergence of the eigenvalues. Finally we show a large set of numerical tests supporting the theoretical results, including a comparison with the conforming Virtual Element choice.

O. Certik, F. Gardini, G. Manzini et al.

We discuss the $p$- and the $hp$-versions of the virtual element method for the approximation of eigenpairs of elliptic operators with a potential term on polygonal meshes. An application of this model is provided by the Schrödinger equation with a pseudo-potential term. We present in details the analysis of the p-version of the method, proving exponential convergence in the case of analytic eigenfunctions. The theoretical results are supplied with a wide set of experiments. We also show numerically that, in the case of eigenfunctions with finite Sobolev regularity, an exponential approximation of the eigenvalues in terms of the cubic root of the number of degrees of freedom can be obtained by employing $hp$-refinements. Importantly, the geometric flexibility of polygonal meshes is exploited in the construction of the $hp$-spaces.

Ondrej Certik, Francesca Gardini, Gianmarco Manzini et al.

We extend the conforming virtual element method to the numerical resolution of eigenvalue problems with potential terms on a polytopal mesh. An important application is that of the Schrodinger equation with a pseudopotential term. This model is a fundamental element in the numerical resolution of more complex problems from the Density Functional Theory. The VEM is based on the construction of the discrete bilinear forms of the variational formulation through certain polynomial projection operators that are directly computable from the degrees of freedom. The method shows a great flexibility with respect to the meshes and provide a correct spectral approximation with optimal convergence rates. This point is discussed from both the theoretical and the numerical viewpoint. The performance of the method is numerically investigated by solving the Quantum Harmonic Oscillator problem with the harmonic potential and a singular eigenvalue problem with zero potential for the first eigenvalues.

G. Manzini, K. Lipnikov, J. D. Moulton et al.

We study the convergence of the new family of mimetic finite difference schemes for linear diffusion problems recently proposed in [38]. In contrast to the conventional approach, the diffusion coefficient enters both the primary mimetic operator, i.e., the discrete divergence, and the inner product in the space of gradients. The diffusion coefficient is therefore evaluated on different mesh locations, i.e., inside mesh cells and on mesh faces. Such a staggered discretization may provide the exibility necessary for future development of efficient numerical schemes for nonlinear problems, especially for problems with degenerate coefficients. These new mimetic schemes preserve symmetry and positive-definiteness of the continuum problem, which allow us to use efficient algebraic solvers such as the preconditioned Conjugate Gradient method. We show that these schemes are inf-sup stable and establish a priori error estimates for the approximation of the scalar and vector solution fields. Numerical examples confirm the convergence analysis and the effectiveness of the method in providing accurate approximations.

Lorella Fatone, Daniele Funaro, Gianmarco Manzini

In this work, we apply a semi-Lagrangian spectral method for the Vlasov-Poisson system, previously designed for periodic Fourier discretizations, by implementing Legendre polynomials and Hermite functions in the approximation of the distribution function with respect to the velocity variable. We discuss second-order accurate-in-time schemes, obtained by coupling spectral techniques in the space-velocity domain with a BDF time-stepping scheme. The resulting method possesses good conservation properties, which have been assessed by a series of numerical tests conducted on the standard two-stream instability benchmark problem. In the Hermite case, we also investigate the numerical behavior in dependence of a scaling parameter in the Gaussian weight. Confirming previous results from the literature, our experiments for different representative values of this parameter, indicate that a proper choice may significantly impact on accuracy, thus suggesting that suitable strategies should be developed to automatically update the parameter during the time-advancing procedure.

Konstantin Lipnikov, Gianmarco Manzini

We review basic design principles underpinning the construction of mimetic finite difference and a few finite volume and finite element schemes for mixed formulations of elliptic problems. For a class of low-order mixed-hybrid schemes, we show connections between these principles and prove that the consistency and stability conditions must lead to a member of the mimetic family of schemes regardless of the selected discretization framework. Finally, we give two examples of using flexibility of the mimetic framework: derivation of higher-order schemes and convergent schemes for nonlinear problems with small diffusion coefficients.

P. F. Antonietti, G. Manzini, M. Verani

In this work, we exploit the capability of virtual element methods in accommodating approximation spaces featuring high-order continuity to numerically approximate differential problems of the form $Δ^p u =f$, $p\ge1$. More specifically, we develop and analyze the conforming virtual element method for the numerical approximation of polyharmonic boundary value problems, and prove an abstract result that states the convergence of the method in the energy norm.

Gianmarco Manzini

This document contains working annotations on the Virtual Element Method (VEM) for the approximate solution of diffusion problems with variable coefficients. To read this document you are assumed to have familiarity with concepts from the numerical discretization of Partial Differential Equations (PDEs) and, in particular, the Finite Element Method (FEM). This document is not an introduction to the FEM, for which many textbooks are available. Eventually, this document will evolve into a tutorial introduction to the VEM (but this is really a long-term goal).

Dibyendu Adak, Daniele Boffi, Francesca Gardini et al.

In this work, we analyze the conforming and $C^0$-non-conforming Virtual Element Method for a fourth-order Steklov eigenvalue problem on a generally shaped, possibly nonconvex, polygonal domain. By employing an {\it enriching } operator, we derive the convergence analysis using the discrete $H^2$ seminorm, and the $H^1$ and $L^2$ norms. We use the Babuška--Osborn spectral theory \cite{BO} to prove that the numerical scheme approximates the spectrum without introducing any spurious eigenvalue. Moreover, we derive the optimal order of convergence for eigenfunctions and double order for eigenvalues. We assess the performance of the method on several numerical tests using different families of polygonal meshes.

Andrea Cangiani, Vitaliy Gyrya, Gianmarco Manzini

We present the non-conforming Virtual Element Method (VEM) for the numerical approximation of velocity and pressure in the steady Stokes problem. The pressure is approximated using discontinuous piecewise polynomials, while each component of the velocity is approximated using the nonconforming virtual element space. On each mesh element the local virtual space contains the space of polynomials of up to a given degree, plus suitable non-polynomial functions. The virtual element functions are implicitly defined as the solution of local Poisson problems with polynomial Neumann boundary conditions. As typical in VEM approaches, the explicit evaluation of the non-polynomial functions is not required. This approach makes it possible to construct nonconforming (virtual) spaces for any polynomial degree regardless of the parity, for two-and three-dimensional problems, and for meshes with very general polygonal and polyhedral elements. We show that the non-conforming VEM is inf-sup stable and establish optimal a priori error estimates for the velocity and pressure approximations. Numerical examples confirm the convergence analysis and the effectiveness of the method in providing high-order accurate approximations.

Andrea Cangiani, Gianmarco Manzini, Oliver J. Sutton

We present in a unified framework new conforming and nonconforming Virtual Element Methods (VEM) for general second order elliptic problems in two and three dimensions. The differential operator is split into its symmetric and non-symmetric parts and conditions for stability and accuracy on their discrete counterparts are established. These conditions are shown to lead to optimal $H^1$- and $L^2$-error estimates, confirmed by numerical experiments on a set of polygonal meshes. The accuracy of the numerical approximation provided by the two methods is shown to be comparable.