Calculation of the advective limit of the SUPG stabilization parameter for linear and higher-order elements

We investigate.. for linear and higher-order elements, various ways of calculating the advective limit of the stabilization parameter ("tau") used in the streamline-upwind/Petrov-Galerkin (SUPG) formulation of flow problems. In the context of a pure advection test problem, we compare the "UGN-based", element-matrix-based, and element-node-based calculations of the advective limit of the tau. Our investigation shows that the performances of the "UGN-based" and element-matrix -based tau definitions are comparable, with the element-matrix-based definition yielding somewhat lower tau values. We also show that for both definitions, as the polynomial orders increase, the tau values decrease, as they should. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.