A low-order nonconforming finite element for Reissner-Mindlin plates

We propose a locking-free element for plate bending problems, based on the use of nonconforming piecewise linear functions for both rotations and deflections. We prove optimal error estimates with respect to both the meshsize and the analytical solution regularity

A Virtual Element Method for elastic and inelastic problems on polytope meshes

We present a Virtual Element Method (VEM) for possibly nonlinear elastic and inelastic problems, mainly focusing on a small deformation regime. The numerical scheme is based on a low-order approximation of the displacement field, as well as a suitable treatment of the displacement gradient. The proposed method allows for general polygonal and polyhedral meshes, it is efficient in terms of number of applications of the constitutive law, and it can make use of any standard black-box constitutive law algorithm. Some theoretical results have been developed for the elastic case. Several numerical results within the 2D setting are presented, and a brief discussion on the extension to large deformation problems is included

Virtual Elements for the Navier-Stokes problem on polygonal meshes

A family of Virtual Element Methods for the 2D Navier-Stokes equations is proposed and analysed. The schemes provide a discrete velocity field which is point-wise divergence-free. A rigorous error analysis is developed, showing that the methods are stable and optimally convergent. Several numerical tests are presented, confirming the theoretical predictions. A comparison with some mixed finite elements is also performed

A Stress/Displacement Virtual Element Method for Plane Elasticity Problems

The numerical approximation of 2D elasticity problems is considered, in the framework of the small strain theory and in connection with the mixed Hellinger-Reissner variational formulation. A low-order Virtual Element Method (VEM) with a-priori symmetric stresses is proposed. Several numerical tests are provided, along with a rigorous stability and convergence analysis

A three-dimensional Hellinger-Reissner Virtual Element Method for linear elasticity problems

We present a Virtual Element Method for the 3D linear elasticity problems, based on Hellinger-Reissner variational principle. In the framework of the small strain theory, we propose a low-order scheme with a-priori symmetric stresses and continuous tractions across element interfaces. A convergence and stability analysis is developed and we confirm the theoretical predictions via some numerical tests.Comment: submitted to CMAM

A Stability Study of some Mixed Finite Elements for Large Deformation Elasticity Problems

We consider the finite elasticity problem for incompressible materials, proposing a simple bidimensional problem for which we provide an indication on the solution stability. Furthermore, we study the stability of discrete solutions, obtained by means of some well-known mixed finite elements, and we present several numerical experiments

SUPG-stabilized Virtual Elements for diffusion-convection problems: a robustness analysis

The objective of this contribution is to develop a convergence analysis for SUPG-stabilized Virtual Element Methods in diffusion-convection problems that is robust also in the convection dominated regime. For the original method introduced in [Benedetto et al, CMAME 2016] we are able to show an "almost uniform" error bound (in the sense that the unique term that depends in an unfavorable way on the parameters is damped by a higher order mesh-size multiplicative factor). We also introduce a novel discretization of the convection term that allows us to develop error estimates that are fully robust in the convection dominated cases. We finally present some numerical result