Two families of nn-rectangle nonconforming finite elements for sixth-order elliptic equations

In this paper, we propose two families of nonconforming finite elements on $n$-rectangle meshes of any dimension to solve the sixth-order elliptic equations. The unisolvent property and the approximation ability of the new finite element spaces are established. A new mechanism, called the exchange of sub-rectangles, for investigating the weak continuities of the proposed elements is discovered. With the help of some conforming relatives for the $H^3$ problems, we establish the quasi-optimal error estimate for the tri-harmonic equation in the broken $H^3$ norm of any dimension. The theoretical results are validated further by the numerical tests in both 2D and 3D situations

Nonstandard finite element de Rham complexes on cubical meshes

We propose two general operations on finite element differential complexes on cubical meshes that can be used to construct and analyze sequences of "nonstandard" convergent methods. The first operation, called DoF-transfer, moves edge degrees of freedom to vertices in a way that reduces global degrees of freedom while increasing continuity order at vertices. The second operation, called serendipity, eliminates interior bubble functions and degrees of freedom locally on each element without affecting edge degrees of freedom. These operations can be used independently or in tandem to create nonstandard complexes that incorporate Hermite, Adini and "trimmed-Adini" elements. We show that the resulting elements provide convergent, non-conforming methods for problems requiring stronger regularity and satisfy a discrete Korn inequality. We discuss potential benefits of applying these elements to Stokes, biharmonic and elasticity problems.Comment: 31 page