A TraceFEM $C^0$ Interior Penalty Method for the Surface Biharmonic Equation

Abstract

We construct and analyze a TraceFEM discretization for the surface biharmonic problem. The method utilizes standard quadratic Lagrange finite element spaces defined on a three-dimensional background mesh and a symmetric $C^0$ interior penalty formulation posed on a second-order polyhedral approximation of the surface. Stability is achieved through a combination of surface edge penalties and bulk-facet penalization of gradient and Hessian jumps. We prove optimal first-order convergence in a discrete $H^2$ norm and quadratic convergence in the $L^2$ norm.