Dr. Caucao-Paillán, Sergio

We propose and analyze a new mixed finite element method for the coupling of the Stokes equations with a transport problem modelled by a scalar nonlinear convection–diffusion problem. Our approach is based on the introduction of the Cauchy fluid stress and two vector unknowns involving the gradient and the total flux of the concentration. The introduction of these further unknowns lead to a mixed formulation in a Banach space framework in both Stokes and transport equations, where the aforementioned stress tensor and vector unknowns, together with the velocity and the concentration, are the main unknowns of the system. In this way, and differently from the techniques previously developed for this and related coupled problems, no augmentation procedure needs to be incorporated now into the formulation nor into the solvability analysis. The resulting non-augmented scheme is then written equivalently as a fixed-point equation, so that the well-known Banach theorem, combined with Babuška–Brezzi’s theory in Banach spaces, classical results on nonlinear monotone operators and certain regularity assumptions, are applied to prove the unique solvability of the continuous system. As for the associated Galerkin scheme, whose solvability is established similarly to the continuous case by using the Brouwer fixed-point theorem, we employ Raviart–Thomas approximations of order for the stress and total flux, and discontinuous piecewise polynomials of degree k for the velocity, concentration, and concentration gradient. With this choice of spaces, momentum is conserved in both Stokes and transport equations if the external forces belong to the piecewise constants and concentration discrete space, respectively, which constitutes one of the main features of our approach. Finally, we derive optimal a priori error estimates and provide several numerical results illustrating the good performance of the scheme and confirming the theoretical rates of convergence.

In this paper we introduce and analyze a new finite element method for a strongly coupled flow and transport problem in , , whose governing equations are given by a scalar nonlinear convection–diffusion equation coupled with the Stokes equations. The variational formulation for this model is obtained by applying a suitable dual-mixed method for the Stokes system and the usual primal procedure for the transport equation. In this way, and differently from the techniques previously developed for this and related coupled problems, no augmentation procedure needs to be incorporated now into the solvability analysis, which constitutes the main advantage of the present approach. The resulting continuous and discrete schemes, which involve the Cauchy fluid stress, the velocity of the fluid, and the concentration as the only unknowns, are then equivalently reformulated as fixed point operator equations. Consequently, the well-known Schauder, Banach, and Brouwer theorems, combined with Babuška–Brezzi’s theory in Banach spaces, monotone operator theory, regularity assumptions, and Sobolev imbedding theorems, allow to establish the corresponding well-posedness of them. In particular, Raviart–Thomas approximations of order for the stress, discontinuous piecewise polynomials of degree for the velocity, and continuous piecewise polynomials of degree for the concentration, becomes a feasible choice for the Galerkin scheme. Next, suitable Strang-type lemmas are employed to derive optimal a priori error estimates. Finally, several numerical results illustrating the performance of the mixed-primal scheme and confirming the theoretical rates of convergence, are provided.