Low cost a posteriori error estimators for an augmented mixed FEM in linear elasticity. Dedicated to Professor Rodolfo Rodríguez on the occasion of his 60th birthday.

Abstract

We consider an augmented mixed finite element method applied to the linear elasticity problem and derive a posteriori error estimators that are simpler and easier to implement than the ones available in the literature. In the case of homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions, the new a posteriori error estimator is reliable and locally efficient, whereas for non-homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions, we derive an a posteriori error estimator that is reliable and satisfies a quasi-efficiency bound. Numerical experiments illustrate the performance of the corresponding adaptive algorithms and support the theoretical results.