Multi-grid methods for stokes and navier-stokes equations

Summary In the present paper we introduce transforming iterations, an approach to construct smoothers for indefinite systems. This turns out to be a convenient tool to classify several well-known smoothing iterations for Stokes and Navier-Stokes equations and to predict their convergence behaviour, epecially in the case of high Reynolds-numbers. Using this approach, we are able to construct a new smoother for the Navier-Stokes equations, based on incomplete LU-decompositions, yielding a highly effective and robust multi-grid method. Besides some qualitative theoretical convergence results, we give large numerical comparisons and tests for the Stokes as well as for the Navier-Stokes equations. For a general convergence theory we refer to 29].This work was supported in part by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft