A domain decomposition strategy for natural imposition of mixed boundary conditions in port-Hamiltonian systems

Abstract: In this contribution, a finite element scheme to impose mixed boundary conditions without introducing Lagrange multipliers is presented for wave propagation phenomena described as port-Hamiltonian systems. The strategy relies on finite element exterior calculus and a domain decomposition to interconnect two systems with different causalities. The spatial domain is split into two parts by introducing an arbitrary interface. Each subdomain is discretized with a mixed finite element formulation that introduces a uniform boundary condition in a natural way as the input. In each subdomain the spaces are selected from a finite element subcomplex to obtain a stable discretization. The two systems are then interconnected together by making use of a feedback interconnection. This is achieved by discretizing the boundary inputs using appropriate spaces that couple the two formulations. The final systems includes all boundary conditions explicitly and does not contain any Lagrange multiplier. Each subdomain is integrated using an implicit midpoint scheme in an uncoupled way from the other by means of a leapfrog scheme. The proposed strategy is tested on three different examples: the Euler-Bernoulli beam, the wave equation and the Maxwell equations. Numerical tests assess the conservation properties of the scheme and the effectiveness of the methodology.