Reduced Finite Element Discretizations of the Stokes and Navier-Stokes Equations

ABSTRACT

If finite element spaces for the velocity and pressure do not satisfy the Babu?ka-Brezzi condition, a stable conforming discretization of the Stokes or Navier-Stokes equations can be obtained by enriching the velocity space by suitable functions. Writing any function from the enriched space as a sum of a function from the original space and a function from the supplementary space, the discretization will contain a number of additional terms compared with a conforming discretization for the original pair of spaces. We show that not all these terms are necessary for the solvability of the discrete problem and for optimal convergence properties of the discrete solutions, which is useful for saving computer memory and for establishing a connection to stabilized methods.