Error Estimate for the Heat Equation on a Coupled Moving Domain in a Fully Eulerian Framework

We introduce an unfitted finite element method with Lagrange-multipliers to study an Eulerian timestepping scheme for moving domain problems applied to a model problem where the domain motion is implicit to the problem. We consider the heat equation as the partial differential equation (PDE) in the bulk domain, and the domain motion is described by an ordinary differential equation (ODE), coupled to the bulk partial differential equation through the transfer of forces at the moving interface. The discretisation is based on an unfitted finite element discretisation on a time-independent mesh. The method-of-lines time discretisation is enabled by an implicit extension of the bulk solution through additional stabilisation, as introduced by Lehrenfeld & Olshanskii (ESAIM: M2AN, 53:585–614, 2019). The analysis of the coupled problem relies on the Lagrange-multiplier formulation, the fact that the Lagrange-multiplier solution is equal to the normal stress at the interface and that the motion of the interface is given through rigid-body motion. This paper covers the complete stability analysis of the method and an error estimate in the energy norm. This includes the dynamic error in the domain motion resulting from the discretised ODE and the forces from the discretised PDE. To the best of our knowledge this is the first error analysis of this type of coupled moving domain problem in a fully Eulerian framework. Numerical examples illustrate the theoretical results.