A general quadratic enrichment of the Crouzeix--Raviart finite element

Abstract: The Crouzeix--Raviart finite element method is widely recognized in the field of finite element analysis due to its nonconforming nature. The main goal of this paper is to present a general strategy for enhancing the Crouzeix--Raviart finite element using quadratic polynomial functions and three additional general degrees of freedom. To achieve this, we present a characterization result on the enriched degrees of freedom, enabling to define a new enriched finite element. This general approach is employed to introduce two distinct admissible families of enriched degrees of freedom. Numerical results demonstrate an enhancement in the accuracy of the proposed method when compared to the standard Crouzeix--Raviart finite element, confirming the effectiveness of the proposed enrichment strategy.