Multivariate vertex splines and finite elements

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to present a unified study of multivariate super vertex splines with emphasis on the construction procedure and an application to least-squares approximation with interpolatory constraints. Both simplicial and parallelepiped partitions are studied in some detail, and in the bivariate setting, even a partition consisting of both triangles and parallelograms is considered. When the polynomial degree is allowed to be sufficiently large as compared to the order of smoothness, it is clear that vertex splines can be constructed by working on each simplex or parallelepiped separately as long as certain suitable normal derivative constraints are imposed on the boundary faces. Our constructive procedure will take a different route. Instead of normal derivatives, we impose extra interpolatory conditions at the “vertices”. This gives rise to the notion of “super splines” introduced in this paper. It should also be emphasized that the view point of considering a basis of piecewise polynomials with smallest possible supports so that the full approximation order is preserved makes vertex splines different from the standard approach in finite elements. After all, if the polynomial degree is required to be lower, it is necessary to work on at least three adjacent simplices or parallelepipeds simultaneously in constructing a basis of vertex splines.