Discontinuous Galerkin methods for 3D-1D systems

Abstract: We propose and analyze discontinuous Galerkin (dG) approximations to 3D-1D coupled systems which model diffusion in a 3D domain containing a small inclusion reduced to its 1D centerline. Convergence to weak solutions of a steady state problem is established via deriving a posteriori error estimates and bounds on residuals defined with suitable lift operators. For the time dependent problem, a backward Euler dG formulation is also presented and analysed. Further, we propose a dG method for networks embedded in 3D domains, which is, up to jump terms, locally mass conservative on bifurcation points. Numerical examples in idealized geometries portray our theoretical findings, and simulations in realistic 1D networks show the robustness of our method.