A structure-preserving split finite element discretization of the split wave equations

Out of the four possible realizations, our framework gives us three schemes with significantly different behavior. The split scheme using twice GP1 is unstable and shares the dispersion relation with the P1-P1 FE scheme that approximates both variables by piecewise linear spaces (P1). The split schemes that apply a mixture of GP1 and GP0 share the dispersion relation with the stable P1-P0 FE scheme that applies piecewise linear and piecewise constant (P0) spaces. However, the split schemes exhibit second order convergence for both quantities of interest. For the split scheme applying twice GP0, we are not aware of a corresponding standard formulation to compare with. Though it does not provide a satisfactory approximation of the dispersion relation as short waves are propagated much too fast, the discovery of the new scheme illustrates the potential of our discretization framework as a toolbox to study and find FE schemes by new combinations of FE spaces.