Adaptive mixed finite element methods for parabolic optimal control problems (Q410320)

Summary: We will investigate the adaptive mixed finite element methods for parabolic optimal control problems. The state and the costate are approximated by the lowest-order Raviart-Thomas mixed finite element spaces, and the control is approximated by piecewise constant elements. We derive a posteriori error estimates of the mixed finite element solutions for optimal control problems. Such a posteriori error estimates can be used to construct more efficient and reliable adaptive mixed finite element method for the optimal control problems. Next we introduce an adaptive algorithm to guide the mesh refinement. A numerical example is given to demonstrate our theoretical results.