
368 K. Gürlebeck and W. Sprößig
Fluids can be for a fixed time structure viscous (=convex curve in the shear-rate–
shear-stress system (sss)),
Newtonian (= straight line in (sss)), or dilatant (concave
curve in (sss)). Structure viscous means shear-thinning. For instance, solid color
becomes liquid while stiring. Dilatant fluids mean shear-thickening. An example
would be walking in wet sands at the beach. The depth of sinking depends on the
velocity inverse proportionally.
In the case of a constant shear-rate we have a convex curve (increasing viscosity
in the time). Such fluids are called
rheopex. Usually, for a fluid which has a decreas-
ing viscosity in the time, one uses the notation
thixotrop. Thixotrop fluids correspond
with structure viscous fluids.
5 Rothe’s Method of Semi-Discretization
5.1 Time-Dependent Stokes Problem
The time-dependent Stokes’ problem reads as follows:
1
μ
∂
t
u −Δu +
1
μ
∇p =
1
μ
f in (0,T)×G, (5.1)
div u = 0in(0,T)×G, (5.2)
u(0, ·) = u
0
in {0}×G, (5.3)
u = g on (0,T)×Γ. (5.4)
Let now be
T =nτ, T > 0,τ meshwidth, and u
k
:=u(kτ, ·), p
k
:=p(kτ,·). (5.5)
We approximate the partial derivative with respect to the time t by forward differ-
ences:
∂
t
u ∼
u
k+1
−u
k
τ
. (5.6)
5.1.1 Semi-Discretization
We obtain from (5.1) the following discretized equation:
ρ
μτ
u
k+1
+DDu
k+1
+
1
μ
Dp
k+1
=
f
μ
+
ρ
μτ
u
k
(k =0, 1,...,n−1). (5.7)
A suitable factorization leads to
(D +a)(D −a)u
k+1
+1/μ D p
k+1
=f/μ +a
2
0
u
k
(k =0, 1,...,n−1).
(5.8)