| Abstract: | The time‐dependent Stokes problem is solved using continuous, piecewise linear finite elements and a classical stabilization procedure. Four order‐one methods are proposed for the time discretization. The first one is nothing but the Euler backward scheme and requires a large linear system involving the velocity and pressure unknowns to be solved. The other three schemes allow velocity and pressure computations to be decoupled, namely the pressure‐matrix method, a method based on an inexact LU factorization, and an operator splitting method. Stability and condition number estimates are derived. Numerical experiments in two space dimensions confirm the theoretical predictions. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 17:632–656, 2001 |
