Open Access

Ngoc Tien Tran

• The relaxation procedure in the calculus of variations leads to minimization problems with a quasi-convex energy density. In some problems of nonlinear elasticity, topology optimization, and multiphase models, the energy density is convex with some convexity control plus two-sided $p$-growth. The minimizers may be non-unique in the primal variable, but define a unique stress variable $\sigma$. The approximation by hybrid high-order (HHO) methods utilizes a reconstruction of the gradients in the space of piecewise Raviart-Thomas finite element functions without stabilization on a regular triangulation into simplices. The application of the HHO methodology to this class of degenerate convex minimization problems allows for a unique $H(\div)$ conform stress approximation $\sigma_h$. The a priori estimates for the stress error $\sigma - \sigma_h$ in the Lebesgue norm are established for mixed boundary conditions without additional assumptions on the primal variable and lead to convergenceThe relaxation procedure in the calculus of variations leads to minimization problems with a quasi-convex energy density. In some problems of nonlinear elasticity, topology optimization, and multiphase models, the energy density is convex with some convexity control plus two-sided $p$-growth. The minimizers may be non-unique in the primal variable, but define a unique stress variable $\sigma$. The approximation by hybrid high-order (HHO) methods utilizes a reconstruction of the gradients in the space of piecewise Raviart-Thomas finite element functions without stabilization on a regular triangulation into simplices. The application of the HHO methodology to this class of degenerate convex minimization problems allows for a unique $H(\div)$ conform stress approximation $\sigma_h$. The a priori estimates for the stress error $\sigma - \sigma_h$ in the Lebesgue norm are established for mixed boundary conditions without additional assumptions on the primal variable and lead to convergence rates for smooth solutions. The a posteriori analysis provides guaranteed error control, including a computable lower energy bound, and a convergent adaptive scheme. Numerical benchmarks display higher convergence rates for higher polynomial degrees and provide empirical evidence for the superlinear convergence of the lower energy bound. Although the focus is on the unstabilized HHO method, a detailed error analysis is provided for the stabilized version with a gradient reconstruction in the space of piecewise polynomials.…