A conservative hybrid method for darcy flow

Abstract

We present a hybrid mimetic spectral element formulation for Darcy flow. The discrete representations for (1) conservation of mass, and (2) inter-element continuity, are topological relations that lead to sparse matrix systems. These constraints are independent of the element size and shape, and thus invariant under mesh transformations. The resultant algebraic system is extremely sparse even for high degree polynomial basis. Furthermore, the system can be efficiently assembled and solved for each element separately.