Incompressible flow computations with stabilized bilinear and linear equal-order-interpolation velocity-pressure elements*

Finite element formulations based on stabilized bilinear and linear equal-order-interpolation velocity-pressure elements are presented for computation of steady and unsteady incompressible flows. The stabilization procedure involves a slightly modified Galerkin/least-squares formulation of the steady-state equations. The pressure field is interpolated by continuous functions for both the quadrilateral and triangular elements used. These elements are employed in conjunction with the one-step and multi-step time integration of the Navier-Stokes equations. The three test cases chosen for the performance evaluation of these formulations are the standing vortex problem, the lid-driven cavity flow at Reynolds number 400, and flow past a cylinder at Reynolds number 100.