High-order time splitting for the Stokes equations (Q1371437)

The author considers the unsteady Stokes equations in velocity-pressure formulation. The equations are discretized by a pseudo-spectral (or collocation) method. This means that the solution is approximated by global Chebyshev polynomials. The author's approach to solve the spectral system is to use a global iterative decoupling procedure, which is an extension of the classical Uzawa algorithm. In doing so, the problem is reduced to the solution of Helmholtz equations for the velocity components and to an equation with a ``pseudo-Laplace'' operator (also called ``energy'') for the pressure. To avoid spurious modes, the pressure is approximated with polynomials of lower order than the velocity. Only one grid (no staggered grids) with the standard Chebyshev-Gauss-Lobatto nodes is used. Furthermore, the present approach is compared with a Neumann boundary value problem for the pressure. The high improved accuracy of the method developed by the author becomes obvious. Concerning the time discretization, a high order backward differentiation scheme for the intermediate velocity is combined with a high order extrapolant for the pressure. Thus a stable third order method in time can be achieved as is shown numerically.