Foundations of Space-Time Finite Element Methods: Polytopes, Interpolation, and Integration Cory V. Frontin Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Gage S. Walters Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802 Freddie D. Witherden Department of Ocean Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843 Carl W. Lee Department of Mathematics, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40506 David M. Williams∗ Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802 David L. Darmofal Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Abstract The main purpose of this article is to facilitate the implementation of space-time finite element methods in four-dimensional space. In order to develop a finite element method in this setting, it is necessary to create a numerical foundation, or equivalently a numerical infrastructure. This foundation should include a arXiv:2012.08701v2 [math.NA] 5 Mar 2021 collection of suitable elements (usually hypercubes, simplices, or closely related polytopes), numerical interpolation procedures (usually orthonormal polyno- mial bases), and numerical integration procedures (usually quadrature rules). It is well known that each of these areas has yet to be fully explored, and in the present article, we attempt to directly address this issue. We begin by developing a concrete, sequential procedure for constructing generic four- ∗Corresponding author Email address:
[email protected] (David M. Williams ) Preprint submitted to Applied Numerical Mathematics March 8, 2021 dimensional elements (4-polytopes). Thereafter, we review the key numerical properties of several canonical elements: the tesseract, tetrahedral prism, and pentatope.