Dual finite element analysis for elliptic problems with obstacles on the boundary. I

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For an elliptic model problem with non-homogeneous unilateral boundary conditions, two dual variational formulations are presented and justified on the basis of a saddle point theorem. Using piecewise linear finite element models on the triangulation of the given domain, dual numerical procedures are proposed. By means of one-sided approximations, some a priori error estimates are proved, assuming that the solution is sufficiently smooth. A posteriori error estimates and two-sided bounds for the energy are also deduced.