Higher-Order Space-Time Continuous Galerkin Methods for the Wave Equation

Abstract: We consider a space-time variational formulation of the second-order wave equation, where integration by parts is also applied with respect to the time variable. Conforming tensor-product finite element discretisations with piecewise polynomials of this space-time variational formulation require a CFL condition to ensure stability. To overcome this restriction in the case of piecewise multilinear, continuous ansatz and test functions, a stabilisation is well-known, which leads to an unconditionally stable space-time finite element method. In this work, we generalise this stabilisation idea from the lowest-order case to the higher-order case, i.e. to an arbitrary polynomial degree. We give numerical examples for a one-dimensional spatial domain, where the unconditional stability and optimal convergence rates in space-time norms are illustrated.