A Mixed Finite Element Approximation for Time-Dependent Navier–Stokes Equations with a General Boundary Condition

Abstract

In this paper, we present a numerical scheme for addressing the unsteady asymmetric flows governed by the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations under a general boundary condition. We utilized the Finite Element Method (FEM) for spatial discretization and the fully implicit Euler scheme for time discretization. In addition to the theoretical analysis of the error in our numerical scheme, we introduced two types of a posteriori error indicators: one for time discretization and another for spatial discretization, aimed at effectively controlling the error. We established the equivalence between these estimators and the actual error. Furthermore, we conducted numerical simulations in two dimensions to assess the accuracy and effectiveness of our scheme.

Keywords

• a posteriori error indicators
• general boundary condition
• finite element method (FEM)
• unsteady incompressible Navier–Stokes equations
• IFISS software
• COMSOL multiphysics