Analysis of the PSPG stabilization for the continuous-in-time discretization of the evolutionary stokes equations

Abstract

Optimal error estimates for the pressure stabilized Petrov-Galerkin (PSPG) method for the continuous-in-time discretization of the evolutionary Stokes equations are proved in the case of regular solutions. The main result is applicable to higher order finite elements. The error bounds for the pressure depend on the error of the pressure at the initial time. An approach is suggested for choosing the discrete initial velocity in such a way that this error is bounded. The "instability of the discrete pressure for small time steps", which is reported in the literature, is discussed on the basis of the analytical results. Numerical studies confirm the theoretical results, showing in particular that this instability does not occur for the proposed initial condition.