HoSGFEM: High-order stable generalized finite element method for elliptic interface problem

Abstract

The Generalized Finite Element Method (GFEM) is an effective unfitted numerical method for handling interface problems. By augmenting the standard FEM space with an appropriate enrichment space, GFEM can accurately capture C^0 solutions across the interfaces. While numerous GFEMs for interface problems have been studied, establishing a stable high-order GFEM with optimal convergence rates and robust system conditioning remains a challenge. The highest known order of two was established by Zhang and Babuška (SGFEM2, Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 363 (2020), 112889). In this paper, we propose a unified enrichment space construction and establish arbitrary high-order stable GFEMs (HoSGFEM) for elliptic interface problems. The main idea distinguishes itself from Zhang and Babuška's SGFEM2 substantially and it is twofold: a) we construct dimensionality-reduced auxiliary locally supported piecewise polynomials that satisfy the partition of unity property for elements containing interfaces; b) we construct the enrichment scheme based on d{1,(x-x_c^e),...,(y-y_c^e)^{p-1}} (d is the distance function; (x_c^e, y_c^e) is the center of the element containing interface, thus element-based) for arbitrary p-th order elements instead of d, d{1,x,y} or d{1,x,y,x^2,xy,y^2} (global functions) for p=1,2 in the literature. This idea results in an enrichment space that has a large angle with the standard FEM space, leading to the stability of the method with system condition number growing in order O(h^{-2}). We establish optimal convergence rates for HoSGFEM solutions under the proposed construction. Various numerical experiments with both straight and curved interfaces demonstrate the optimal convergence, FEM-comparable system condition number with O(h^{-2}) growth, and robustness as element boundaries approach interfaces.