Optimal error estimate of the penalty finite element method for the time-dependent Navier-Stokes equations

A fully discrete penalty finite element method is presented for the two-dimensional time-dependent Navier-Stokes equations. The time discretization of the penalty Navier-Stokes equations is based on the backward Euler scheme; the spatial discretization of the time discretized penalty Navier-Stokes equations is based on a finite element space pair which satisfies some approximate assumption. An optimal error estimate of the numerical velocity and pressure is provided for the fully discrete penalty finite element method when the parameters and are sufficiently small.