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We introduce an unfitted Nitsche finite element method with a new ghost-penalty stabilization based on local projection of the solution gradient. The proposed ghost-penalty operator is straightforward to implement, ensures algebraic stability, provides an implicit extension of the solution beyond the physical domain, and stabilizes the numerical method for problems dominated by transport phenomena. This paper presents both a sharp interface version of the method and an alternative diffuse interface formulation designed to avoid integration over implicitly defined embedded surfaces. A complete numerical analysis of the sharp interface version is provided. The results of several numerical experiments support the theoretical analysis and illustrate the performance of both variants of the method. 

Abstract The paper introduces a finite element method for an Eulerian formulation of partial differential equations governing the transport and diffusion of a scalar quantity in a time-dependent domain. The method follows the idea from[C. Lehrenfeld and M. Olshanskii,An Eulerian finite element method for PDEs in time-dependent domains,ESAIM Math. Model. Numer. Anal. 53 2019, 2, 585–614]of a solution extension to realise the Eulerian time-stepping scheme. However, a reformulation of the partial differential equation is suggested to derive a scheme which conserves the quantity under consideration exactly on the discrete level. For the spatial discretisation, the paper considers an unfitted finite element method. Ghost-penalty stabilisation is used to realise the discrete solution extension and gives a scheme robust against arbitrary intersections between the mesh and geometry interface. The stability is analysed for both first- and second-order backward differentiation formula versions of the scheme. Several numerical examples in two and three spatial dimensions are included to illustrate the potential of this method.