A posteriori error estimates for a dual finite element method for singularly perturbed reaction–diffusion problems

Abstract

A posteriori error estimates are established for a two-step dual finite element method for singularly perturbed reaction–diffusion problems. The method can be considered as a modified least-squares finite element method. The least-squares functional is the basis for our residual-type a posteriori error estimators, which are shown to be reliable and efficient with respect to the error in an energy-type norm. Moreover, guaranteed upper bounds for the errors in the computed primary and dual variables are derived; these bounds are then used to drive an adaptive algorithm for our finite element method, yielding any desired accuracy. Our theory does not require the meshes generated to be shape-regular. Numerical experiments show the effectiveness of our a posteriori estimators.