Normal mode analysis of second-order projection methods for incompressible flows (Q2388650)

A rigorous normal mode error analysis is carried out for two second-order projection type methods. It is shown that although the two schemes provide second-order accuracy for the velocity in \(L^2\)-norm, their accuracies for the velocity in \(H^1\)-norm and for the pressure in \(L^2\)-norm are different, and only the consistent splitting scheme introduced in [\textit{J. L. Guermond} and \textit{J. Shen}, J. Comput. Phys. 192, No. 1, 262--276 (2003; Zbl 1032.76529)] provides full second-order accuracy for all variable in their natural norms. The advantages and disadvantages of the normal mode analysis vs. the energy method are also elaborated.