A three-step Oseen-linearized finite element method for incompressible flows with damping

This paper introduces a three-step Oseen-linearized finite element method for the 2D/3D steady incompressible Navier–Stokes equations with nonlinear damping term. Within this method, we solve a nonlinear problem over a coarse grid followed by solving two Oseen-linearized problems over a fine grid, which possess the same stiffness matrices with only various right-hand sides. We theoretically analyze the stability of the present method, and derive optimal error estimates of the finite element solutions. We conduct a series of numerical experiments which support the theoretical analysis and test the effectiveness of the proposed method. We demonstrate numerically that there is a significant improvement in the accuracy of the approximate solutions over those for the standard two-level method.     

Simple finite element method in vorticity formulation for incompressible flows

A very simple and efficient finite element method is introduced for two and three dimensional viscous incompressible flows using the vorticity formulation. This method relies on recasting the traditional finite element method in the spirit of the high order accurate finite difference methods introduced by the authors in another work. Optimal accuracy of arbitrary order can be achieved using standard finite element or spectral elements. The method is convectively stable and is particularly suited for moderate to high Reynolds number flows.

     

Mixed finite element methods for incompressible flow: Stationary Stokes equations

In this article, we develop and analyze a mixed finite element method for the Stokes equations. Our mixed method is based on the pseudostress‐velocity formulation. The pseudostress is approximated by the Raviart‐Thomas (RT) element of index k ≥ 0 and the velocity by piecewise discontinuous polynomials of degree k. It is shown that this pair of finite elements is stable and yields quasi‐optimal accuracy. The indefinite system of linear equations resulting from the discretization is decoupled by the penalty method. The penalized pseudostress system is solved by the H(div) type of multigrid method and the velocity is then calculated explicitly. Alternative preconditioning approaches that do not involve penalizing the system are also discussed. Finally, numerical experiments are presented. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2010     

Error analysis of a fully discrete finite element variational multiscale method for time‐dependent incompressible Navier–Stokes equations

A finite element variational multiscale method based on two local Gauss integrations is applied to solve numerically the time‐dependent incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. A significant feature of the method is that the definition of the stabilization term is derived via two local Guass integrations at element level, making it more efficient than the usual projection‐based variational multiscale methods. It is computationally cheap and gives an accurate approximation to the quantities sought. Based on backward Euler and Crank–Nicolson schemes for temporal discretization, we derive error bounds of the fully discrete solution which are first and second order in time, respectively. Numerical tests are also given to verify the theoretical predictions and demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2013     

Error analysis of the L2 least‐squares finite element method for incompressible inviscid rotational flows

In this article we analyze the L² least‐squares finite element approximations to the incompressible inviscid rotational flow problem, which is recast into the velocity‐vorticity‐pressure formulation. The least‐squares functional is defined in terms of the sum of the squared L² norms of the residual equations over a suitable product function space. We first derive a coercivity type a priori estimate for the first‐order system problem that will play the crucial role in the error analysis. We then show that the method exhibits an optimal rate of convergence in the H¹ norm for velocity and pressure and a suboptimal rate of convergence in the L² norm for vorticity. A numerical example in two dimensions is presented, which confirms the theoretical error estimates. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2004     

H least-squares method for the velocity–pressure–stress formulation of Stokes equations

This paper studies the discrete H⁻¹-norm least-squares method for the incompressible Stokes equations based on the velocity–pressure–stress formulation by the least-squares functional defined as the sum of L²-norms and H⁻¹-norm of the residual equations. Some computational experiments by multigrid method and preconditioning conjugate gradient method (PCGM) on this method are shown by taking efficient and β in the discrete solution operator T_h=h²I+βB_h corresponding to the minus one norm. We also propose a new method and compare it with PCGM and multigrid method through the analysis of numerical experiments depending on the choice of β.     

Error estimate of a fully discrete defect correction finite element method for unsteady incompressible Magnetohydrodynamics equations

In this study, a fully discrete defect correction finite element method for the unsteady incompressible Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) equations, which is leaded by combining the Back Euler time discretization with the two-step defect correction in space, is presented. It is a continuous work of our formal paper [Math Method Appl Sci. 2017. DOI:10.1002/mma.4296]. The defect correction method is an iterative improvement technique for increasing the accuracy of a numerical solution without applying a grid refinement. Firstly, the nonlinear MHD equation is solved with an artificial viscosity term. Then, the numerical solutions are improved on the same grid by a linearized defect-correction technique. Then, we introduce the numerical analysis including stability analysis and error analysis. The numerical analysis proves that our method is stable and has an optimal convergence rate. Some numerical results [see Math Method Appl Sci. 2017. DOI:10.1002/mma.4296] show that this method is highly efficient for the unsteady incompressible MHD problems.     

A parallel finite element variational multiscale method based on fully overlapping domain decomposition for incompressible flows

Based on fully overlapping domain decomposition and a recent variational multiscale method, a parallel finite element variational multiscale method for convection dominated incompressible flows is proposed and analyzed. In this method, each processor computes a local finite element solution in its own subdomain using a global mesh that is locally refined around its own subdomain, where a stabilization term based on two local Gauss integrations is adopted to stabilize the numerical form of the Navier–Stokes equations. Using the technical tool of local a priori estimate for the finite element solution, error bounds of the discrete solution are estimated. Algorithmic parameter scalings are derived. Numerical tests are also given to verify the theoretical predictions and demonstrate the effectiveness of the method. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 31: 856–875, 2015     

On a finite element method for unsteady compressible viscous flows

In this article we present an analysis of a finite element method for solving two‐dimensional unsteady compressible Navier‐Stokes equations. Under the time‐stepping size restriction Δt ≤ Ch, we prove the existence and uniqueness of the numerical solution and obtain an a prior error estimate uniform in time. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 19: 152–166, 2003     

On a finite element method for three‐dimensional unsteady compressible viscous flows

In this article we analyze a finite element method for three‐dimensional unsteady compressible Navier‐Stokes equations. We prove the existence and uniqueness of the numerical solution, and obtain a priori error estimates uniform in time. Numerical computations are carried out to test the orders of accuracy in the error estimates. Blend function interpolations are applied in the calculation of numerical integrations. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 20: 432–449, 2004.     

Application of the least-squares spectral element method using Chebyshev polynomials to solve the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations

In this paper the extension of the Legendre least-squares spectral element formulation to Chebyshev polynomials will be explained. The new method will be applied to the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations and numerical results, obtained for the lid-driven cavity flow at Reynolds numbers varying between 1000 and 7500, will be compared with the commonly used benchmark results. The new results reveal that the least-squares spectral element formulations based on the Legendre and Chebyshev Gauss-Lobatto Lagrange interpolating polynomials are equally accurate.     

A two-stage least-squares finite element method for the stress-pressure-displacement elasticity equations

A new stress-pressure-displacement formulation for the planar elasticity equations is proposed by introducing the auxiliary variables, stresses, and pressure. The resulting first-order system involves a nonnegative parameter that measures the material compressibility for the elastic body. A two-stage least-squares finite element procedure is introduced for approximating the solution to this system with appropriate boundary conditions. It is shown that the two-stage least-squares scheme is stable and, with respect to the order of approximation for smooth exact solutions, the rates of convergence of the approximations for all the unknowns are optimal both in the H¹-norm and in the L²-norm. Numerical experiments with various values of the parameter are examined, which demonstrate the theoretical estimates. Among other things, computational results indicate that the behavior of convergence is uniform in the nonnegative parameter. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 14: 297–315, 1998     

Finite element error analysis of a variational multiscale method for the Navier-Stokes equations

The paper presents finite element error estimates of a variational multiscale method (VMS) for the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. The constants in these estimates do not depend on the Reynolds number but on a reduced Reynolds number or on the mesh size of a coarse mesh. This work is partially supported by NSF grants DMS9972622, DMS20207627 and INT9814115.     

Nonconforming elements in least-squares mixed finite element methods

In this paper we analyze the finite element discretization for the first-order system least squares mixed model for the second-order elliptic problem by means of using nonconforming and conforming elements to approximate displacement and stress, respectively. Moreover, on arbitrary regular quadrilaterals, we propose new variants of both the rotated nonconforming element and the lowest-order Raviart-Thomas element.

     

Vorticity–velocity–pressure formulation for the Stokes problem

We present a new variational formulation of Stokes problem of fluid mechanics that allows to take into account very general boundary conditions for velocity, tangential vorticity or pressure. This formulation conducts a well posed mathematical problem in a family of particular cases. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical study of natural superconvergence in least-squares finite element methods for elliptic problems

Natural superconvergence of the least-squares finite element method is surveyed for the one-and two-dimensional Poisson equation. For two-dimensional problems, both the families of Lagrange elements and Raviart-Thomas elements have been considered on uniform triangular and rectangular meshes. Numerical experiments reveal that many superconvergence properties of the standard Galerkin method are preserved by the least-squares finite element method. The second author was supported in part by the US National Science Foundation under Grant DMS-0612908.     

A superconvergent nonconforming mixed finite element method for the Navier–Stokes equations

The superconvergence for a nonconforming mixed finite element approximation of the Navier–Stokes equations is analyzed in this article. The velocity field is approximated by the constrained nonconforming rotated Q₁ (CNRQ₁) element, and the pressure is approximated by the piecewise constant functions. Under some regularity assumptions, the superconvergence estimates for both the velocity in broken H¹‐norm and the pressure in L²‐norm are obtained. Some numerical examples are presented to demonstrate our theoretical results. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 32: 646–660, 2016     

Least‐squares mixed finite element methods for the incompressible Navier‐Stokes equations

Least‐squares mixed finite element schemes are formulated to solve the evolutionary Navier‐Stokes equations and the convergence is analyzed. We recast the Navier‐Stokes equations as a first‐order system by introducing a vorticity flux variable, and show that a least‐squares principle based on L² norms applied to this system yields optimal discretization error estimates. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 18: 441–453, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/num.10015     

Approximation of Navier–Stokes incompressible flow using a spectral element method with a local discretization in spectral space

A spectral element technique is examined, which builds upon a local discretization within the spectral space. To approximate a given system of equations the domain is subdivided into nonoverlapping quadrilateral elements, and within each element a discretization is found in the spectral space. The difference is that the test functions are divided into the higher-order polynomials, which have zero boundaries and lower-order polynomials, which are nonzero on one boundary. The method is examined for Navier–Stokes incompressible flow for fluid flow within a driven cavity and for flow over a backstep. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 13: 587–599, 1997     

Some remarks on the flux-free finite element method for immiscible two-fluid flows

We give some theoretical considerations on the the flux-free finite element method for the generalized Stokes interface problem arising from the immiscible two-fluid flow problems. In the flux-free finite element method, the flux constraint is posed as another Lagrange multiplier to keep the zero-flux on the interface. As a result, the mass of each fluid is expected to be preserved at every time step. We first study the effect of discontinuous coefficients (viscosity and density) on the error of the standard finite element approximations very carefully. Then, the analysis is extended to the flux-free finite element method.