A posteriori error analysis of a stabilized mixed FEM for convection-diffusion problems

Abstract

We present an augmented dual-mixed variational formulation for a linear convection-diffusion equation with homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions. The approach is based on the addition of suitable least squares type terms. We prove that for appropriate values of the stabilization parameters, that depend on the diffusion coefficient and the magnitude of the convective velocity, the new variational formulation and the corresponding Galerkin scheme are well-posed, and a Cea estimate holds. In particular, we derive the rate of convergence when the flux and the concentration are approximated, respectively, by Raviart-Thomas and continuous piecewise polynomials. In addition, we introduce a simple a posteriori error estimator which is reliable and locally efficient. Finally, we provide numerical experiments that illustrate the behavior of the method.