Fractured meshes

This work introduces “generalized meshes”, a type of meshes suited for the discretization of partial differential equations in non-regular geometries. Generalized meshes extend regular simplicial meshes by allowing for overlapping elements and more flexible adjacency relations. They can have several distinct “generalized” vertices (or edges, faces) that occupy the same geometric position. These generalized facets are the natural degrees of freedom for classical conforming spaces of discrete differential forms appearing in finite and boundary element applications. Special attention is devoted to the representation of fractured domains and their boundaries. An algorithm is proposed to construct the so-called virtually inflated mesh, which correspond to a “two-sided” mesh of a fracture. Discrete d-differential forms on the virtually inflated mesh are characterized as the trace space of discrete d-differential forms in the surrounding volume.