Unified $hp$-HDG Frameworks for Friedrichs' PDE systems

Abstract: This work proposes a unified $hp$-adaptivity framework for hybridized discontinuous Galerkin (HDG) method for a large class of partial differential equations (PDEs) of Friedrichs' type. In particular, we present unified $hp$-HDG formulations for abstract one-field and two-field structures and prove their well-posedness. In order to handle non-conforming interfaces we simply take advantage of HDG built-in mortar structures. With split-type mortars and the approximation space of trace, a numerical flux can be derived via Godunov approach and be naturally employed without any additional treatment. As a consequence, the proposed formulations are parameter-free. We perform several numerical experiments for time-independent and linear PDEs including elliptic, hyperbolic, and mixed-type to verify the proposed unified $hp$-formulations and demonstrate the effectiveness of $hp$-adaptation. Two adaptivity criteria are considered: one is based on a simple and fast error indicator, while the other is rigorous but more expensive using an adjoint-based error estimate. The numerical results show that these two approaches are comparable in terms of convergence rate even for problems with strong gradients, discontinuities, or singularities.