A posteriori error estimates for mixed finite element approximations of elliptic problems (Q2471691)

The authors derive residual based a posteriori error estimates of the flux in \(L^{2}\)-norm for a general class of mixed methods for elliptic problems. The estimate is applicable to standard mixed methods such as the Raviart-Thomas-Nedelec and Brezzi-Douglas-Marini elements, as well as stabilized methods such as the Galerkin-least squares method. The element residual in the estimation employs an elementwise computable postprocessed approximation of the displacement which gives optimal order.