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

Abstract

The a posteriori error estimates for finite element approximations to the governing equations of heat and mass transfer in fluidized beds are derived in this work. These are a system of five time dependent coupled nonlinear convection-diffusion-reaction equations. Based on the variational formulation, computable residual based a posteriori error estimates are obtained. The time discretization has been done using the implicit Euler method. The a posteriori error estimates for all the five variables are derived using the total residual and error indicators due to spatial discretization, time discretization and linearization. An adaptive finite element solution of these model equations is computed and the performance is illustrated.