On the stability of residual-free bubbles for convection-diffusion problems and their approximation by a two-level finite element method (Q1299279)

For the approximate solution of 2D convection-diffusion problems, the authors consider the residual-free bubble function approach as a special Galerkin-Petrov method and show, generalizing a result by \textit{F. Brezzi, L. P. Franca} and \textit{A. Russo} [Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Eng. 166, No. 1-2, 25-33 (1998; Zbl 0934.65126)] that the corresponding bilinear form is coercive for large mesh-Peclet numbers. In doing so they reveal that the \(L\)-spline part of the bubble is responsible for its stability whereas the rest of the bubble function influences only its accuracy. For the numerical realization, the authors propose a two-level finite element method in which the bubbles are approximated elementwise on a subgrid by subdividing the original elements into 5 by 5 etc. up to 20 by 20 new elements (where the Galerkin-least squares method is employed). They then compare the results obtained with a Galerkin-least squares method for the entire domain. No much differences are visible.