Analysis of a $\boldsymbol{P}_1\oplus \boldsymbol{RT}_0$ finite element method for linear elasticity with Dirichlet and mixed boundary conditions

Abstract: In this paper, we investigate a low-order robust numerical method for the linear elasticity problem. The method is based on a Bernardi--Raugel-like $\boldsymbol{H}(\mathrm{div})$-conforming method proposed first for the Stokes flows in [Li and Rui, IMA J. Numer. Anal. {42} (2022) 3711--3734].Therein the lowest-order $\boldsymbol{H}(\mathrm{div})$-conforming Raviart--Thomas space ($\boldsymbol{RT}_0$) was added to the classical conforming $\boldsymbol{P}_1\times P_0$ pair to meet the inf-sup condition, while preserving the divergence constraint and some important features of conforming methods. Due to the inf-sup stability of {the} $\boldsymbol{P}_1\oplus \boldsymbol{RT}_0\times P_0$ pair, a locking-free elasticity discretization {with respect to} {the Lam\'{e} constant $\lambda$} can be naturally obtained. Moreover, our scheme is gradient-robust for the pure and homogeneous displacement boundary problem, that is, the discrete $\boldsymbol{H}<sup>1$-norm of the displacement is $\mathcal{O}(\lambda<sup>{-1})$ when the external body force is a gradient field. We also consider the mixed displacement and stress boundary problem, whose $\boldsymbol{P}_1\oplus \boldsymbol{RT}_0$ discretization should be carefully designed due to a consistency error arising from the $\boldsymbol{RT}_0$ part. We propose both symmetric and nonsymmetric schemes to approximate the mixed boundary case. The optimal error estimates are derived for the energy norm and/or $\boldsymbol{L}<sup>2$-norm. Numerical experiments demonstrate the accuracy and robustness of our schemes.