Stabilized element residual method (SERM): A posteriori error estimation for the advection-diffusion equation (Q2564242)

An error estimation technique for the advection-diffusion equation which is based on the element residual method is presented. Residual-based a posteriori error estimation technique has been developed for linear elliptic symmetric and positive definite problems and in this paper this technique is extended to the unsymmetric and positive semi-definite advection-diffusion operator. The estimation technique is augmented by the inclusion of additional stabilizing terms which are proportional to the residual of the Euler-Lagrange equation corresponding to the local error problem. The stabilization parameter provides flexibility for tuning the method to obtain unit effectivity indices under certain conditions. The selection of the optimum stabilization parameter is discussed. The optimal value of this parameter depends on the choice of the operator for the weighting function and the choice of the norm used to measure the error. Although the results obtained in this paper are valid only for advection-diffusion equations they are possible to be extended to other equations.