On the numerical stability of mixed finite-element methods for viscoelastic flows governed by differential constitutive equations (Q1310074)

(From the authors' abstract.) The paper focuses on computation of the linear stability of the planar Couette flow as a test of the numerical stability for solution of the upper-convected Maxwell model. A new mixed finite element method, EVSS-G, is presented that includes smooth interpolation of the velocity gradients in the constitutive equation that is compatible with bilinear interpolation of the stress field. This formulation is tested with SUPG, streamline upwinding, and Galerkin least squares discretization of the constitutive equation.