The MHM Method for Linear Elasticity on Polytopal Meshes

The multiscale hybrid-mixed (MHM) method consists of a multi-level strategy to approximate the solution of boundary value problems with heterogeneous coefficients. In this context, we propose a new family of finite elements for the linear elasticity equation defined on coarse polytopal partitions of the domain. The finite elements rely on face degrees of freedom associated with multiscale bases obtained from local Neumann problems with piecewise polynomial interpolations on faces. We establish sufficient conditions on the fine-scale interpolations such that the MHM method is well-posed and optimally convergent under local regularity conditions. Also, a multi-level error analysis demonstrates that the MHM method achieves convergence without refining the coarse partition. The upshot is that the Poincaré and Korn’s inequalities do not degenerate, and then the convergence arises on general meshes. Two- and three-dimensional numerical tests assess theoretical results and verify the robustness of the method on a multi-layer media case.