A variational multiscale stabilized formulation for the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations

This paper presents a variational multiscale residual-based stabilized finite element method for the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. Structure of the stabilization terms is derived based on the two level scale separation furnished by the variational multiscale framework. A significant feature of the new method is that the fine scales are solved in a direct nonlinear fashion, and a definition of the stabilization tensor τ is derived via the solution of the fine-scale problem. A computationally economic procedure is proposed to evaluate the advection part of the stabilization tensor. The new method circumvents the Babuska-Brezzi (inf-sup) condition and yields a stable formulation for high Reynolds number flows. A family of equal-order pressure-velocity elements comprising 4-and 10-node tetrahedral elements and 8- and 27-node hexahedral elements is developed. Convergence rates are reported and accuracy properties of the method are presented via the lid-driven cavity flow problem.