Mass- and momentum-conserving spectral methods for Stokes flow (Q1344287)

A possible way of solution of the two-dimensional Stokes flow problem with boundary stress discontinuities is given. Use is made of the stream and Airy stress function formulation of the problem, which results in a system of two coupled second-order elliptic equations for these functions. Both the stream and the Airy stress function satisfy, in the planar case, the biharmonic equation and are coupled via natural boundary conditions derived, in concrete situations, using the least-square formulation of the second-order equation system. The method of solution is applied to the so-called stick-slip planar Stokes flow problem for which an exact solution exists. The biharmonic equations with the derived boundary conditions for the stream and Airy stress functions are numerically solved using the spectral domain decomposition method. An asymptotic expansion of the solution in the vicinity of the singular point is also given. The authors announce possible extension of the method to the solution of the Navier-Stokes equations for the same stick- slip problem. Note: in the caption to Fig. 7 read \(y= 0\) instead of \(x= 0\).