Vertex-Based Compatible Discrete Operator Schemes on Polyhedral Meshes for Advection-Diffusion Equations

We devise and analyze vertex-based, Péclet-robust, lowest-order schemes for advection-diffusion equations that support polyhedral meshes. The schemes are formulated using Compatible Discrete Operators (CDO), namely primal and dual discrete differential operators, a discrete contraction operator for advection, and a discrete Hodge operator for diffusion. Moreover, discrete boundary operators are devised to weakly enforce Dirichlet boundary conditions. The analysis sheds new light on the theory of Friedrichs’ operators at the purely algebraic level. Moreover, an extension of the stability analysis hinging on infsup conditions is presented to incorporate divergence-free velocity fields under some assumptions. Error bounds and convergence rates for smooth solutions are derived, and numerical results are presented on three-dimensional polyhedral meshes.