A low-degree strictly conservative finite element method for incompressible flows

Abstract: In this paper, a new $P_{2}-P_{1}$ finite element pair is proposed for incompressible fluid. For this pair, the discrete inf-sup condition and the discrete Korn's inequality hold on general triangulations. It yields exactly divergence-free velocity approximations when applied to models of incompressible flows. The robust capacity of the pair for incompressible flows are verified theoretically and numerically.