Adaptive finite element for semilinear convection-diffusion problems (Q1373118)

The authors are interested in the Dirichlet problem for a differential equation of the form \[ -(a(x)u')'+b(x)u'+c(x)u=f(x,u) \] on the interval \(0\leq x \leq 1\). \(a(x)\) is assumed positive and bounded away from zero, and \(f(x,u)\) can be nonlinear. They present a readily computable estimate of the error in solution of a finite element discretization of the problem, based on residual size in each element. Making use of the Fréchet derivative, the a posteriori estimate is shown to converge to the true error when the problem is \(H^1\)-coercive. The error estimator can be used to specify element sizes based on the equidistribution principle. Examples of the success of this prescription in the \(H^1\)-coercive case are presented. An alternative prescription enforces the requirement that no mesh elements can remain large, even if the estimated error is small, and is shown to be effective even in the non-coercive case. Several nonlinear examples exhibiting boundary layer behavior are presented.