Convergence of the Lagrange--Galerkin Method for the Equations Modelling the Motion of a Fluid-Rigid System

Abstract

In this paper, we consider a Lagrange--Galerkin scheme to approximate a two-dimensional fluid-rigid body problem. The equations of the system are the Navier--Stokes equations in the fluid part, coupled with ordinary differential equations for the dynamics of the rigid body. In this problem, the equations of the fluid are written in a domain whose variation is one of the unknowns. We introduce a numerical method based on the use of characteristics and on finite elements with a fixed mesh. Our main result asserts the convergence of this scheme.