Numerical Computations of Viscous, Incompressible Flow Problems Using a Two-Level Finite Element Method

Abstract

We consider two-level finite element discretization methods for the stream function formulation of the Navier-Stokes equations. The two-level method consists of solving a small nonlinear system on the coarse mesh, then solving a linear system on the fine mesh. The basic result states that the errors between the coarse and fine meshes are related superlinearly. This paper demonstrates that the two-level method can be implemented to approximate efficiently solutions to the Navier-Stokes equations. Two fluid flow calculations are considered to test problems which have a known solution and the driven cavity problem. Stream function contours are displayed showing the main features of the flow.