A posteriori error estimates and an adaptive finite element solution for the system of unsteady convection-diffusion-reaction equations in fluidized beds (Q1995963)

The main aim of this paper is the construction of an a posteriori error estimator for a system of five unsteady and strongly coupled convection-diffusion-reaction equations in fluidized bed spray granulation (FBSG). In order to solve this nonlinear challenging system the authors make use of an adaptive finite element method in space variable and an implicit Euler scheme in time variable, both based on a weak formulation. A total residual, which is a sum of the residual due to space discretization, time discretization and linearization, is introduced. The nonlinear reaction term is manipulated using its Lipschitz property in the framework of Newton's method where the Jacobian matrix of the system is based on the exact derivatives. Some numerical examples are carried out in order to underline the effectiveness of the a posteriori error analysis.