A robust adaptive strategy for the nonlinear Poisson equation (Q1907036)

The author constructs and analyses adaptive finite element strategies for solving the nonlinear Poisson equation \(-\Delta u= f(u)\) in a plane, bounded domain \(\Omega\) under homogeneous Dirichlet's boundary conditions. The nonlinear function \(f\in C^{0, 1}(\mathbb{R}^1)\) should satisfy conditions of the form \[ - \lambda_1\leq (f(v)- f(w))/(v- w)\leq \lambda_0< C^{- 2}_P,\quad \forall v, w\in \mathbb{R}^1,\;v\neq w, \] with some positive constants \(\lambda_0\) and \(\lambda_1\). The constant \(C^{- 2}_P\) denotes the minimal eigenvalue of the \(-\Delta\) under homogeneous Dirichlet's boundary conditions. In practice, the function \(f\) will be approximated by some simpler function \(f_h\). The correct handling of this approximation on coarser grids is the crucial point in an adaptive process. The author proposes four adaptive strategies based on an a posteriori error estimate and on an a posteriori saturation condition. Numerical results are presented.