A conformal decomposition finite element method for arbitrary discontinuities on moving interfaces

SUMMARYInterface capturing methods using enriched finite element formulations are well suited for solving multimaterial transport problems that contain weak or strong discontinuities. The conformal decomposition FEM decomposes multimaterial elements of a non‐conforming background mesh into sub‐elements that conform to material interfaces captured using a level set method. As the interface evolves, interfacial nodes move, and background nodes may change material. The present work describes approaches for handling moving interfaces in the context of the conformal decomposition FEM for both weakly and strongly discontinuous fields. Dynamic discretization methods using extrapolation and moving mesh approaches are considered and developed with first‐order and second‐order time integration methods. The moving mesh approach is demonstrated to be a stable method that preserves both weak and strong discontinuities on a variety of one‐dimensional and two‐dimensional test problems, while achieving the expected second‐order error convergence rate in space and time. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.