Jordi Blasco

A finite element formulation for the Stokes problem allowing equal velocity-pressure interpolation

Abstract In this paper we study a variational formulation of the Stokes problem that accommodates the use of equal velocity-pressure finite element interpolations. The motivation of this method relies on the analysis of a class of fractional-step methods for the Navier-Stokes equations for which it is known that equal interpolations yield good numerical results. The reason for this turns out to be the difference between two discrete Laplacian operators computed in a different manner. The formulation of the Stokes problem considered here aims to reproduce this effect. From the analysis of the finite element approximation of the problem we obtain stability and optimal error estimates using velocity-pressure interpolations satisfying a compatibility condition much weaker than the inf-sup condition of the standard formulation. In particular, this condition is fulfilled by the most common equal order interpolations.

Stabilized finite element method for the transient Navier–Stokes equations based on a pressure gradient projection

Abstract In this paper we present a stabilized finite element formulation for the transient incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. The main idea is to introduce as a new unknown of the problem the projection of the pressure gradient onto the velocity space and to add to the incompresibility equation the difference between the Laplacian of the pressure and the divergence of this new vector field. This leads to a pressure stabilization effect that allows the use of equal interpolation for both velocities and pressures. In the case of the transient equations, we consider the possibility of treating the pressure gradient projection either implicitly or explicity. In the first case, the number of unknowns of the problem is substantially increased with respect to the standard Galerkin formulation. Nevertheless, iterative techniques may be used in order to uncouple the calculation of the pressure gradient projection from the rest of unknowns (velocity and pressure). When this vector field is treated explicitly, the increment of computational cost of the stabilized formulation with respect to the Galerkin method is very low. We provide a stability estimate for the case of the simple backward Euler time integration scheme for both the implicit and the explicit treatment of the pressure gradient projection.

Analysis of a pressure-stabilized finite element approximation of the stationary Navier-Stokes equations

Summary. The purpose of this paper is to analyze a finite element approximation of the stationary Navier-Stokes equations that allows the use of equal velocity-pressure interpolation. The idea is to introduce as unknown of the discrete problem the projection of the pressure gradient (multiplied by suitable algorithmic parameters) onto the space of continuous vector fields. The difference between these two vectors (pressure gradient and projection) is introduced in the continuity equation. The resulting formulation is shown to be stable and optimally convergent, both in a norm associated to the problem and in the

An anisotropic pressure-stabilized finite element method for incompressible flow problems

L^2

Analysis of a stabilized finite element approximation of the transient convection-diffusion-reaction equation using orthogonal subscales

norm for both velocities and pressure. This is proved first for the Stokes problem, and then it is extended to the nonlinear case. All the analysis relies on an inf-sup condition that is much weaker than for the standard Galerkin approximation, in spite of the fact that the present method is only a minor modification of this.

Implementation of a stabilized finite element formulation for the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations based on a pressure gradient projection

We consider a pressure-stabilized, finite element approximation of incompressible flow problems in primitive velocity-pressure variables, which is based on a projection of the gradient of the discrete pressure onto the space of discrete functions. Equal order interpolation for the velocity and the pressure can be employed with this formulation. The method introduced here is specially developed to be used on anisotropic finite element meshes with large element aspect ratios.