A stabilized finite element method based on local polynomial pressure projection for the stationary Navier-Stokes equations

This article considers a stabilized finite element approximation for the branch of nonsingular solutions of the stationary Navier-Stokes equations based on local polynomial pressure projection by using the lowest equal-order elements. The proposed stabilized method has a number of attractive computational properties. Firstly, it is free from stabilization parameters. Secondly, it only requires the simple and efficient calculation of Gauss integral residual terms. Thirdly, it can be implemented at the element level. The optimal error estimate is obtained by the standard finite element technique. Finally, comparison with other methods, through a series of numerical experiments, shows that this method has better stability and accuracy. (C) 2007 IMACS. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.