An Anisotropic $hp$-Adaptation Framework for Ultraweak Discontinuous Petrov-Galerkin Formulations

Abstract: In this article, we present a three-dimensional anisotropic $hp$-mesh refinement strategy for ultraweak discontinuous Petrov--Galerkin (DPG) formulations with optimal test functions. The refinement strategy utilizes the built-in residual-based error estimator accompanying the DPG discretization. The refinement strategy is a two-step process: (a) use the built-in error estimator to mark and isotropically $hp$-refine elements of the (coarse) mesh to generate a finer mesh; (b) use the reference solution on the finer mesh to compute optimal $h$- and $p$-refinements of the selected elements in the coarse mesh. The process is repeated with coarse and fine mesh being generated in every adaptation cycle, until a prescribed error tolerance is achieved. We demonstrate the performance of the proposed refinement strategy using several numerical examples on hexahedral meshes.