Convergence analysis of the Navier–Stokes alpha model

We consider the Navier–Stokes‐alpha (NS‐α) model as an approximation of turbulent flows under nonperiodic boundary conditions. We prove global existence and uniqueness of weak solutions of the particular model. Further, we give full discretization of the model using the finite element approximations. Finally, we prove convergence of the method to the continuous NS‐α solution as h → 0 for a constant α. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 2010