A Linear Variable-Step Embedded ETD Scheme with Uniform-in-Time Stability for the 2D Navier--Stokes Equations

We propose a linear variable-step exponential time-differencing method for the incompressible Navier--Stokes equations in vorticity--streamfunction formulation on a two-dimensional periodic box. The method consists of a second-order scheme and an embedded first-order variant, yielding a natural mechanism for adaptive time stepping and a posteriori error control. Each time step requires only uniquely solvable linear problems: two heat equation solves, efficiently handled by Fourier methods in the periodic setting, and one linear scalar auxiliary-variable equation, evaluated via Laplace transform and Talbot's numerical inverse transform.
The construction combines the ETD framework, a mean-reverting scalar auxiliary variable (mr-SAV), and second-order extrapolation of the nonlinear term. The mean-reverting correction enables long-time stability while preserving full linearity, distinguishing the method from related mr-SAV schemes that require nonlinear algebraic solves. We prove unconditional long-time stability: for uniformly bounded $L^2$ forcing, the discrete vorticity remains bounded in $L^\infty(0,\infty;L^2)$ for all Reynolds numbers and time-step sizes. Numerical experiments