Higher order mortar finite element methods in 3D with dual lagrange multiplier bases

Mortar methods with dual Lagrange multiplier bases provide a flexible, efficient and optimal way to couple different discretization schemes or nonmatching triangulations. Here, we generalize the concept of dual Lagrange multiplier bases by relaxing the condition that the trace space of the approximation space at the slave side with zero boundary condition on the interface and the Lagrange multiplier space have the same dimension. We provide a new theoretical framework within this relaxed setting, which opens a new and simpler way to construct dual Lagrange multiplier bases for higher order finite element spaces. As examples, we consider quadratic and cubic tetrahedral elements and quadratic serendipity hexahedral elements. Numerical results illustrate the performance of our approach.