Une méthode d'approximation mixte des équations des fluides non newtoniens de troisième grade. (A mixed approximation of the equations of non-Newtonian fluids of grade three) (Q1111404)

The paper is concerned with the steady state equations for an incompressible non-Newtonian fluid of grade three, regularized by a fourth order elliptic operator, in two-dimensional domains \(\Omega\). In the first part, a theoretical study of the corresponding weak formuation is carried out, divergence-free vector fields in \(H^ m(\Omega)\) are characterized, existence of weak solutions for forces \(f\in H^{- 2}(\Omega)\) is established, and a uniqueness condition (large viscosity or forces that are small in \(H^{-1}(\Omega))\) is given. The authors then give error estimates for finite-dimensional approximations of velocity and pressure for the linearized problem. These error estimates are extended to the nonlinear problem, if the uniqueness condition holds.