DG = FEM + flat elements, Part I: Diffusion

Abstract

We establish a simple, rigorous, and easy to implement connection between the classical continuous finite element method (FEM) and the discontinuous Galerkin (DG) method for Poisson's problem. The key idea is to insert a vanishing-thickness layer of "dummy" elements along cell interfaces. By modifying the diffusion coefficient on these elements to be proportional to their thickness, we prove the FEM formulation converges to Babuška-Zlámal DG with trapezoidal edge quadrature. The scheme is trivial to implement by (i) a mesh edit that introduces degenerate interface elements and (ii) a single Jacobian threshold in an otherwise unmodified FEM code to handle the degenerate elements via the tempered finite element (TFEM) framework. We provide a rigorous derivation of the resulting TFEM-DG scheme, prove optimal $H^1$ and $L^2$ error estimates, and present numerical experiments in 2D and 3D. The method allows for simple implementation of DG in a FEM code and even adaptive element-by-element switching between FEM and DG with minimal coding effort. The framework is readily extensible, as we will demonstrate in a companion paper dedicated to evolutionary nonlinear first-order hyperbolic systems.