NEW FINITE ELEMENT METHODS IN COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS BY H (DIV) ELEMENTS.

In this paper, the authors present two formulations for the Stokes problem which make use of the existing H(div) elements of the Raviart-Thomas type originally developed for the second-order elliptic problems. In addition, two new H(div) elements are constructed and analyzed particularly for the new formulations. Optimal-order error estimates are established for the corresponding finite element solutions in various Sobolev norms. The finite element solutions feature a full satisfaction of the continuity equation when existing Raviart-Thomas-type elements are employed in the numerical scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]