  The inf-sup constant for the divergence, or LBB constant, is explicitly known
for only few domains. For other domains, upper and lower estimates are known.
If more precise values are required, one can try to compute a numerical
approximation. This involves, in general, approximation of the domain and then
the computation of a discrete LBB constant that can be obtained from the
numerical solution of an eigenvalue problem for the Stokes system. This
eigenvalue problem does not fall into a class for which standard results about
numerical approximations can be applied. Indeed, many reasonable finite element
methods do not yield a convergent approximation. In this article, we show that
under fairly weak conditions on the approximation of the domain, the LBB
constant is an upper semi-continuous shape functional, and we give more
restrictive sufficient conditions for its continuity with respect to the
domain. For numerical approximations based on variational formulations of the
Stokes eigenvalue problem, we also show upper semi-continuity under weak
approximation properties, and we give stronger conditions that are sufficient
for convergence of the discrete LBB constant towards the continuous LBB
constant. Numerical examples show that our conditions are, while not quite
optimal, not very far from necessary.
