A priori error estimates of two fully discrete coupled schemes for Biot's consolidation model

Abstract: This paper concentrates on a priori error estimates of two fully discrete coupled schemes for Biot's consolidation model based on the three-field formulation introduced by Oyarzua et al. (SIAM Journal on Numerical Analysis, 2016). The spatial discretizations are based on the Taylor-Hood finite elements combined with Lagrange elements for the three primary variables. For time discretization, we consider two methods. One uses the backward Euler method, and the other applies a combination of the backward Euler and Crank-Nicolson methods. A priori error estimates show that the two schemes are unconditionally convergent with optimal error orders. Detailed numerical experiments are presented to validate the theoretical analysis.