Nonstandard finite element de Rham complexes on cubical meshes

Two general operations are proposed 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. The resulting elements lead to convergent non-conforming methods for problems requiring stronger regularity and satisfy a discrete Korn inequality. Potential benefits of applying these elements to Stokes, biharmonic and elasticity problems are discussed.