Search Results
On spurious oscillations due to irrotational forces in the Navier-Stokes momentum balance
2015, Linke, Alexander, Merdon, Christian
This contribution studies the in uence of the pressure on the velocity error in finite element discretisations of the Navier-Stokes equations. Three simple benchmark problems that are all close to real-world applications convey that the pressure can be comparably large and is not to be underestimated. For widely used finite element methods like the Taylor-Hood finite element method, such relatively large pressures can lead to spurious oscillations and arbitrarily large errors in the velocity, even if the exact velocity is in the ansatz space. Only mixed finite element methods, whose velocity error is pressure-independent, like the Scott-Vogelius finite element method can avoid this influence.
Quasi-optimality of a pressure-robust nonconforming finite element method for the Stokes problem
2017, Linke, Alexander, Merdon, Christian, Neilan, Michael, Neumann, Felix
Nearly all classical inf-sup stable mixed finite element methods for the incompressible Stokes equations are not pressure-robust, i.e., the velocity error is dependent on the pressure. However, recent results show that pressure-robustness can be recovered by a non-standard discretization of the right hand side alone. This variational crime introduces a consistency error in the method which can be estimated in a straightforward manner provided that the exact velocity solution is sufficiently smooth. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the pressurerobust scheme with low regularity. The numerical analysis applies divergence-free H1-conforming Stokes finite element methods as a theoretical tool. As an example, pressure-robust velocity and pressure a-priori error estimates will be presented for the (first order) nonconforming CrouzeixRaviart element. A key feature in the analysis is the dependence of the errors on the Helmholtz projector of the right hand side data, and not on the entire data term. Numerical examples illustrate the theoretical results.
On really locking-free mixed finite element methods for the transient incompressible Stokes equations
2017, Ahmed, Naveed, Linke, Alexander, Merdon, Christian
Inf-sup stable mixed methods for the steady incompressible Stokes equations that relax the divergence constraint are often claimed to deliver locking-free discretizations. However, this relaxation leads to a pressure-dependent contribution in the velocity error, which is proportional to the inverse of the viscosity, thus giving rise to a (different) locking phenomenon. However, a recently proposed modification of the right hand side alone leads to a discretization that is really locking-free, i.e., its velocity error converges with optimal order and is independent of the pressure and the smallness of the viscosity. In this contribution, we extend this approach to the transient incompressible Stokes equations, where besides the right hand side also the velocity time derivative requires an improved space discretization. Semi-discrete and fully-discrete a-priori velocity and pressure error estimates are derived, which show beautiful robustness properties. Two numerical examples illustrate the superior accuracy of pressure-robust space discretizations in the case of small viscosities.
Pressure-robustness and discrete Helmholtz projectors in mixed finite element methods for the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations
2016, Linke, Alexander, Merdon, Christian
Recently, it was understood how to repair a certain L2-orthogonality of discretely-divergence-free vector fields and gradient fields such that the velocity error of inf-sup stable discretizations for the incompressible Stokes equations becomes pressure-independent. These new pressure-robust Stokes discretizations deliver a small velocity error, whenever the continuous velocity field can be well approximated on a given grid. On the contrary, classical inf-sup stable Stokes discretizations can guarantee a small velocity error only, when both the velocity and the pressure field can be approximated well, simultaneously. In this contribution, pressure-robustness is extended to the time-dependent Navier-Stokes equations. In particular, steady and time-dependent potential flows are shown to build an entire class of benchmarks, where pressure-robust discretizations can outperform classical approaches significantly. Speedups will be explained by a new theoretical concept, the discrete Helmholtz projector of an inf-sup stable discretization. Moreover, different discrete nonlinear convection terms are discussed, and skew-symmetric pressure-robust discretizations are proposed.
Robust arbitrary order mixed finite element methods for the incompressible Stokes equations
2014, Linke, Alexander, Matthies, Gunar, Tobiska, Lutz
Standard mixed finite element methods for the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations that relax the divergence constraint are not robust against large irrotational forces in the momentum balance and the velocity error depends on the continuous pressure. This robustness issue can be completely cured by using divergence-free mixed finite elements which deliver pressure-independent velocity error estimates. However, the construction of H1-conforming, divergence-free mixed finite element methods is rather difficult. Instead, we present a novel approach for the construction of arbitrary order mixed finite element methods which deliver pressure-independent velocity errors. The approach does not change the trial functions but replaces discretely divergence-free test functions in some operators of the weak formulation by divergence-free ones. This modification is applied to inf-sup stable conforming and nonconforming mixed finite element methods of arbitrary order in two and three dimensions. Optimal estimates for the incompressible Stokes equations are proved for the H1 and L2 errors of the velocity and the L2 error of the pressure. Moreover, both velocity errors are pressure-independent, demonstrating the improved robustness. Several numerical examples illustrate the results.
An analogue of grad-div stabilization in nonconforming methods for incompressible flows
2017, Akbas, Mine, Linke, Alexander, Rebholz, Leo G., Schroeder, Philipp W.
Grad-div stabilization is a classical remedy in conforming mixed finite element methods for incompressible flow problems, for mitigating velocity errors that are sometimes called poor mass conservation. Such errors arise due to the relaxation of the divergence constraint in classical mixed methods, and are excited whenever the spacial discretization has to deal with comparably large and complicated pressures. In this contribution, an analogue of grad-div stabilization is presented for nonconforming flow discretizations of Discontinuous Galerkin or nonconforming finite element type. Here the key is the penalization of the jumps of the normal velocities over facets of the triangulation, which controls the measure-valued part of the distributional divergence of the discrete velocity solution. Furthermore, we characterize the limit for arbitrarily large penalization parameters, which shows that the proposed nonconforming Discontinuous Galerkin methods remain robust and accurate in this limit. Several numerical examples illustrate the theory and show their relevance for the simulation of practical, nontrivial flows.