Dual-mixed finite elements for the three-field Stokes model as a finite volume method on staggered grids

Abstract

In this paper, a new three-field weak formulation for Stokes problems is developed, and from this, a dual-mixed finite element method is proposed on a rectangular mesh. In the proposed mixed methods, the components of stress tensor are approximated by piecewise constant functions or Q1 functions, while the velocity and pressure are discretized by the lowest-order Raviart-Thomas element and the piecewise constant functions, respectively. Using quadrature rules, we demonstrate that this scheme can be reduced into a finite volume method on staggered grid, which is extensively used in computational fluid mechanics and engineering.