Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 October 2004
A distributed optimal control problem for evolutionary Stokes flows isstudied via a pseudocompressibility formulation. Several results concerning the analysis of the velocity tracking problem are presented. Semidiscrete finite element error estimates for the correspondingoptimality system are derived based on estimates for the penalizedStokes problem and the BRR (Brezzi-Rappaz-Raviart) theory. Finally, theconvergence of the solutions of the penalized optimality systems as ε → 0 is examined.