Postprocessing finite-element methods for the Navier–Stokes Equations: the Fully discrete case

Abstract

An accuracy-enhancing postprocessing technique for finite-element discretizations of the Navier–Stokes equations is analyzed. The technique had been previously analyzed only for semidiscretizations, and fully discrete methods are addressed in the present paper. We show that the increased spatial accuracy of the postprocessing procedure is not affected by the errors arising from any convergent time-stepping procedure. Further refined bounds are obtained when the timestepping procedure is either the backward Euler method or the two-step backward differentiation formula.