On A New Edge-Based Gradient Recovery Technique

A posteriori error estimation methods for mesh adaptation often require an accurate computation of the gradient of a Lagrange finite element solution. The precision of the error estimation is directly related to the accuracy of the recovered gradient. We therefore present in this communication a simple method for the evaluation of the gradient of a linear Lagrange finite element solution, and we show that it has significant advantages over existing methods of the same order. The proposed method requires the solution of a global linear system that can be solved by a preconditioned conjugate gradient method. An interesting feature is that it does not require any special treatment for boundary nodes contrarily to classical local patch recovery methods. Copyright (c) 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.