A posteriori error analysis for conforming MITC elements for Reissner-Mindlin plates

Carsten Carstensen , Jun Hu

Preprint series: Institut für Mathematik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (ISSN 0863-0976), 23 pp.

MSC 2000

65N15 Error bounds

35J25 Boundary value problems for second-order, elliptic equations

Abstract
This paper establishes a {\em unified } a posteriori error estimator for a large class of conforming finite element methods for the Reissner-Mindlin plate problem. The analysis is based on some assumption (H) on the consistency of the reduction integration to avoid shear locking. The reliable and efficient a posteriori error estimator is robust in the sense that the reliability and efficiency constants are independent of the plate thickness $t$. The presented analysis applies to all conforming MITC elements and all conforming finite element methods without reduced integration from the literature.