Local residual-type error estimates for adaptive boundary element methods on closed curves

Abstract

Considering the Galerkin boundary element methods and mesh families with bounded local mesh ratio we derive local error estimates such that the local error is bounded by a local residual together with some global terms which can be expected to be small. If the order of the boundary operator is non-negative and at most two, these estimates show that the local residual is a local error indicator. For the operators of the negative order we obtain the same conclusion if the mesh is β-regular. Our paper improves recent results of Wendland and Yu in several respects.