Automatic Variationally Stable Analysis for FE Computations: An Introduction

We introduce an automatic variationally stable analysis (AVS) for finite element (FE) computations of scalar-valued convection-diffusion equations with non-constant and highly oscillatory coefficients. In the spirit of least squares FE methods, the AVS-FE method recasts the governing second order partial differential equation (PDE) into a system of first-order PDEs. However, in the subsequent derivation of the equivalent weak formulation, a Petrov-Galerkin technique is applied by using different regularities for the trial and test function spaces. We use standard FE approximation spaces for the trial spaces, which are C0, and broken Hilbert spaces for the test functions. Thus, we seek to compute pointwise continuous solutions for both the primal variable and its flux (as in least squares FE methods), while the test functions are piecewise discontinuous. To ensure the numerical stability of the subsequent FE discretizations, we apply the philosophy of the discontinuous Petrov-Galerkin (DPG) method by Demkowicz and Gopalakrishnan, by invoking test functions that lead to unconditionally stable numerical systems (if the kernel of the underlying differential operator is trivial). In the AVS-FE method, the discontinuous test functions are ascertained per the DPG approach from local, decoupled, and well-posed variational problems, which lead to best approximation properties in terms of the energy norm. We present various 2D numerical verifications, including convection-diffusion problems with highly oscillatory coefficients and extremely high Peclet numbers, up to a billion. These show the unconditional stability without the need for any upwind schemes nor any other artificial numerical stabilization. The results are not highly diffused for convection-dominated problems ...