A posteriori error estimates for lowest-order mixed finite element discretizations of convection-diffusion-reaction equations

We establish residual a posteriori error estimates for lowest-order Raviart-Thomas mixed finite element discretizations of convection-diffusion-reaction equations on simplicial meshes in two or three space dimensions. The upwind-mixed scheme is considered as well, and the emphasis is put on the presence of an inhomogeneous and anisotropic diffusion-dispersion tensor and on a possible convection dominance. Global upper bounds for the approximation error in the energy norm are derived, where in particular all constants are evaluated explicitly, so that the estimators are fully computable. Our estimators give local lower bounds for the error as well, and they hold from the cases where convection or reaction are not present to convection-or reaction-dominated problems; we prove that their local efficiency depends only on local variations in the coefficients and on the local Peclet number. Moreover, the developed general framework allows for asymptotic exactness and full robustness with respect to inhomogeneities and anisotropies. The main idea of the proof is a construction of a locally postprocessed approximate solution using the mean value and the flux in each element, known in the mixed finite element method, and a subsequent use of the abstract framework arising from the primal weak formulation of the continuous problem. Numerical experiments confirm the guaranteed upper bound and excellent efficiency and robustness of the derived estimators.