| Abstract: | Local a posteriori error estimators are derived for linear elliptic problems over general polygonal domains in 2d. The estimators lead to a sharp upper bound for the energy error in a local region of interest. This upper bound consists of H1‐type local error indicators in a slightly larger subdomain, plus weighted L2‐type local error indicators outside this subdomain, which account for the pollution effects. This constitutes the basis of a local adaptive refinement procedure. Numerical experiments show a superior performance than the standard global procedure as well as the generation of locally quasi‐optimal meshes. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 19: 421–442, 2003 |
