A posteriori error estimates for continuous/discontinuous Galerkin approximations of the Kirchhoff–Love plate

We present energy norm a posteriori error estimates for continuous/discontinuous Galerkin (c/dG) approximations of the Kirchhoff–Love plate problem. The method is based on a continuous displacement field inserted into a symmetric discontinuous Galerkin formulation of the fourth order partial differential equation governing the deflection of a thin plate. We also give explicit formulas for the penalty parameter involved in the formulation.

► FEM with continuous displacements and penalized discontinuous rotations. ► A posteriori error estimates based on a Helmholtz decomposition of tensor fields. ► Coercivity bounds for the penalty parameter are given. ► Numerical examples of adaptivity and of sensitivity w.r.t. the penalty parameter.