A new mixed method for the Stokes flow based on stress-velocity-vorticity formulation

In this work, we develop and analyze a mixed finite element method for the Stokes flow. This method is based on a stress-velocity-vorticity formulation. A new discretization is proposed: the stress variable is approximated by the Raviart-Thomas elements and the velocity and the vorticity by piecewise discontinuous polynomials. It is shown that if the orders of these spaces are choosen properly then this method is stable. We derive new error estimates for this problem, showing that the optimal accurancy for both the velocity and vorticity yield. contact: paola.antonietti@polimi.it nicola.parolini@polimi.it