New decomposition of shape functions spaces of mixed finite element methods Original Research Article

A new decomposition of the shape functions spaces involved in mixed finite element method is introduced. This decomposition is particularly well suited to handling the local equilibrium condition. Associated with the dual mixed hybrid formulation, this property reduces the mixed formulation of second order elliptic boundary-value problems in divergence form to a generalized nonconforming finite element method with only the interface multipliers as unknowns.