On an Efficient Finite Element Method for Navier-Stokes-ω with Strong Mass Conservation

We study an efficient finite element method for the NS-ω model, that uses van Cittert approximate deconvolution to improve accuracy and Scott-Vogelius elements to provide pointwise mass conservative solutions and remove the dependence of the (often large) Bernoulli pressure error on the velocity error. We provide a complete numerical analysis of the method, including well-posedness, unconditional stability, and optimal convergence. Additionally, an improved choice of filtering radius (versus the usual choice of the average mesh width) for the scheme is found, by identifying a connection with a scheme for the velocity-vorticity-helicity NSE formulation. Several numerical experiments are given that demonstrate the performance of the scheme, and the improvement offered by the new choice of the filtering radius. 2010 Mathematical subject classification: 76D05; 76F99; 65M60.