VIRTUAL ELEMENT METHODS

Andrea Cangiani
UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER

EFEF 2012
BCAM, Bilbao, 8-9 June 2012

A. Cangiani (University of Leicester)

Virtual Element Method (VEM)

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FEM on general meshes

Augmented FE are mentioned as early as Strang & Fix (1973)!
GFEM [Babuska & Osborn (1983)]
Partition of Unity Method [Babuska & Melenk (1997)]
XFEM [eg. Fries & Belytschko (2010)]
PolygonalFEM [Tabarraei & Sukumar (2004 & 2007)]
BEM-based FEM [Copeland, Langer, & Pusch (2009)]
Various dG approaches, eg.
Polymorphic Nodal dG [Gassner, L
orcher, Munz, & Hesthaven (2009)]
Agglomeration dG [Bassi, Botti, Colombo, & Rebay (2011)]

...
Driving idea: generalize FE to polygons considering/adding particular
shape functions that may help capturing the solution
The VEM approach: Generalize FE to polygons maintaining the ease of
implementation of (polynomial) FE.
A. Cangiani (University of Leicester)

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The Virtual Element Methods (VEM) principle

for the generalization of FEM on polygons

The VEM trial space contains, on each element, a space of

polynomials, plus other functions.
The degrees of freedom (dof) are carefully chosen in order to allow
accurate dof-based computation when the polynomials are involved.
It is shown that for the remaining part a result with the right order of
magnitude and stability properties suffices.

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Model problem and mesh partition

Model problem: On R2 , consider the symmetric variational problem
(
find u V := H01 () such that
a(u, v ) = (f , v ) v V ,
with f L2 () and
a(u, v ) M |u|1 |v |1 ,

a(v , v ) |v |21

u, v V .

Polygonal decompositions: {Th }h decompositions of into

non-overlapping polygons K
Y
Broken H 1 -seminorm: On H 1 (Th ) :=
H 1 (K ) define
K Th

|v |h,1 :=

 X

|v |20,K

1/2

K Th
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Abtract discrete problem

Given:
A space Vh V ;
A symmetric bilinear form ah : Vh Vh R such that
X
ah (uh , vh ) =
ahK (uh , vh ) uh , vh Vh ,
K Th

where ahK (, ) is a bilinear form on Vh|K Vh|K ;

An element fh Vh0 .
We define the discrete problem
(
find uh Vh such that
ah (uh , vh ) = hfh , vh i

A. Cangiani (University of Leicester)

vh Vh

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Assumptions on the discrete bilinear form

There exists an integer k 1 such that for all K Th
Pk (K ) Vh .
k-consistency: for all p Pk (K ) and for all vh Vh|K ,
ahK (p, vh ) = aK (p, vh ).
Stability: there exist two positive constants and , independent
of h and of K , such that
vh Vh|K

A. Cangiani (University of Leicester)

aK (vh , vh ) ahK (vh , vh ) aK (vh , vh ).

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Abstract convergence theorem

Theorem
Under all the above assumptions the discrete problem has a unique
solution uh and
|u uh |1 . inf |u uI |1 +
uI Vh

|h |21 hfh , h i

inf

u K Pk (K )

|(f , v ) hfh , v i|
|v |1
v Vh \{0}

|u u |h,1 + sup

ahK (uI , h )
(h := uh uI )


P
= hfh , h i K ahK (uI u , h ) + ahK (u , h )

P 
= hfh , h i K ahK (uI u , h ) + aK (u , h )

P 
= hfh , h i (f , h ) K ahK (uI u , h ) + aK (u u, h ) .

A. Cangiani (University of Leicester)

Virtual Element Method (VEM)

EFEF 2012

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A Virtual Element Method

Consider the case a(u, v ) = (u, v ).
Fix K Th with n edges, xK barycenter of K , hK diameter of K , k 1,
Bk (K ) := {v C 0 (K ) : v|e Pk (e) e K };
note that dim(Bk (K )) = n + n(k 1) = nk. Then, define
V K ,k = {v H 1 (K ) : v|K Bk (K ), v|K Pk2 (K )},
with P1 (K ) := {0}. Note that
Pk (K ) V K ,k ;
NK := dim V K ,k = nk + k(k 1)/2.
Then, the global conforming VEM space is given by
Vh := {v V : v |K V K ,k K Th }
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Virtual Element Method (VEM)

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VEM degrees of freedom

For instance, we may choose as dof for any vh V K ,k ,
V K ,k - The values of vh at the vertices.
E K ,k - For k > 1, e the values of vh at k 1 distinct points
P K ,k - For k > 1, the moments
Z
o
n x x s
1
K
, |s| k 2 .
m(x)vh (x)dx
m
|K | K
hK

A. Cangiani (University of Leicester)

Virtual Element Method (VEM)

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VEM vs FEM (recall that NK = nk + k(k 1)/2)

VEM

k=1

k=2

k=3

FEM

k=1

k=2

k=3

For k = 1 the two methods coincide!

A. Cangiani (University of Leicester)

Virtual Element Method (VEM)

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VEM vs FEM (recall that NK = nk + k(k 1)/2)

VEM

k=1

k=2

k=3

FEM

k=1

k=2

k=3

Q.: What is VEM for k = 1?

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Virtual Element Method (VEM)

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VEM vs ??? (recall that NK = nk + k(k 1)/2)

VEM

k=1

A. Cangiani (University of Leicester)

k=2

Virtual Element Method (VEM)

k=3

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Construction of admissible bilinear forms

Observe that, as for any v V K ,k and for any p Pk (K ),
Z
Z
Z
p
K
a (v , p) =
ds,
v p dx =
v p dx +
v
n
K
K
K
is exacly computable just using the local degrees of freedom.
Example. Take k = 2. Then,


Z
Z
1
v p dx = |K |p
v dx .
|K | K
K
K ,k P (K ) as
Now, it is convenient to define the projection K
k
k : V
K K
a (k v , q) = aK (v , q) q Pk (K )

n


1X
K

v (Vi )
Vi = vertices of K
k v = v := n
i=1

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Then,
K
K
K
K
K ,k
ahK (u, v ) := aK (K
,
k u, k v ) + S (u k u, v k v ) u, v V

satisfies k-consistency and stability for every S K (u, v ) such that

c0 aK (v , v ) S K (v , v ) c1 aK (v , v )

v V K ,k

with K
k v = 0.

Computing the RHS

K f as the L2 (K )projection of f onto P
Similarly, define fh := Pk2
k2 (K )

Then, the associated right-hand side

Z
Z
Z
K
K
fh vh dx =
(Pk2
f (Pk2
hfh , vh iK =
f ) vh dx =
vh ) dx
K

is exactly computable using the internal moments.

A. Cangiani (University of Leicester)

Virtual Element Method (VEM)

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VEM on quadrilaterals: the case k = 1

Recall that if v V K ,1 then
v = 0

in K ,

v P1 (e)

e K ,

v |K C 0 (K )

On parallelograms, V K ,1 = Q1 (K ).
And
K
K
K
K
ahK (u, v ) := aK (K
1 u, 1 v ) + S (u 1 u, v 1 v )

Thus, on parallelograms, VEM Bilinear FEM plus quadrature

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Virtual Element Method (VEM)

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An alternative point of view

Actually, we may as well define: V K ,1 := span{1 , 2 , 3 , 4 } with
i |e P1 (e)

e K ;

i (xj ) = ij ;
P1 (K ) span{1 , 2 , 3 , 4 }.

A. Cangiani (University of Leicester)

Virtual Element Method (VEM)

EFEF 2012

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An alternative point of view

Actually, we may as well define: V K ,1 := span{1 , 2 , 3 , 4 } with
i |e P1 (e)

e K ;

i (xj ) = ij ;
P1 (K ) span{1 , 2 , 3 , 4 }.
And, with respect to this basis, ahK is given by
Z
bi T
bj
T
1
K
ah (i , j ) =
i j dx = di dj + (1)i+j 2 K
K
K
K
where
K =

R
K

|(1 + 3 )|2 dx

A. Cangiani (University of Leicester)

Virtual Element Method (VEM)

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Square mesh: the stencil (K = [0, 1]2 )

1
2

+2

1
2

A. Cangiani (University of Leicester)

2
R

[0,1]2

1
2

1
2

|(1 + 3 )|2 dx

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Method robustness

10

H1 error
-1

10

L2 error

-2

10

-4

10

-2

10

10

10

10

The values = 2/3 (dashed line) and = 2 (dotted line) are shown.
A. Cangiani (University of Leicester)

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Examples
5-points
Laplace

9-points
Laplace

Exact Q1

Hourglass

All these result from applying quadrature to the Q1 FE and from the VEM
bilinear form using different spaces.
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References
C., Manzini, & Russo Nine-point discrete Laplace operators for
general quadrilateral meshes. Submitted to CMAME.
Beirao da Veiga, Brezzi, C., Manzini, Marini, & Russo Basic principles
of Virtual Element Methods. Submitted to M3 AS. IMATI Tech. Rep.,
Pavia, 2012.
Brezzi, C., Manzini, & Russo Mimetic Methods and Virtual Elements
Methods for diffusion problems on polygonal meshes. IMATI Tech.
Rep., Pavia, 2012.

WORKSHOP Disretization Methods for Polygonal and Polyhedral Meshes

Milan, 17-19 September 2012
http://k.matapp.unimib.it/WSVEM-2012
A. Cangiani (University of Leicester)

Virtual Element Method (VEM)

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