A Two-Level Finite Element Galerkin Method for the Nonstationary Navier-Stokes Equations II: Time Discretization

Abstract

 In this article we consider the fully discrete two-level finite element Galerkin method for the two-dimensional nonstationary incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. This method consists in dealing with the fully discrete nonlinear Navier-Stokes problem on a coarse mesh with width $H$ and the fully discrete linear generalized Stokes problem on a fine mesh with width $h << H$. Our results show that if we choose $H=O(h^{1/2}$) this method is as the same stability and convergence as the fully discrete standard finite element Galerkin method which needs dealing with the fully discrete nonlinear Navier-Stokes problem on a fine mesh with width $h$. However, our method is cheaper than the standard fully discrete finite element Galerkin method.