An approximate projection scheme for incompressible flow using spectral elements

An approximate projection scheme based on the pressure correction method is proposed to solve the Navier-Stokes equations for incompressible flow. The algorithm is applied to the continuous equations; however, there are no problems concerning the choice of boundary conditions of the pressure step. The resulting velocity and pressure are consistent with the original system. For the spatial discretization a high-order spectral element method is chosen. The high-order accuracy allows the use of a diagonal mass matrix, resulting in a very efficient algorithm. The properties of the scheme are extensively tested by means of an analytical test example. The scheme is further validated by simulating the laminar flow over a backward-facing step.