An analysis of nonconforming virtual element methods on polytopal meshes with small faces

Abstract

In this paper, we analyze nonconforming virtual element methods on polytopal meshes with small faces for the second-order elliptic problem. We propose new stability forms for 2D and 3D nonconforming virtual element methods. For the 2D case, the stability form is defined by the sum of an inner product of approximate tangential derivatives and a weighed [Formula: see text]-inner product of certain projections on the mesh element boundaries. For the 3D case, the stability form is defined by a weighted [Formula: see text]-inner product on the mesh element boundaries. We prove the optimal convergence of the nonconforming virtual element methods equipped with such stability forms. Finally, several numerical experiments are presented to verify our analysis and compare the performance of the proposed stability forms with the standard stability form [B. Ayuso de Dios, K. Lipnikov and G. Manzini, The nonconforming virtual element method, ESAIM Math. Model. Numer. Anal. 50 (2016) 879–904].