Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 April 2011
In this paper, a dynamic viscoelastic problem is numerically studied. The variationalproblem is written in terms of the velocity field and it leads to a parabolic linearvariational equation. A fully discrete scheme is introduced by using thefinite element method to approximate the spatial variable andan Euler scheme to discretize time derivatives. An a priori error estimatesresult is recalled, from which the linear convergence is derived under suitableregularity conditions. Then, an a posteriorierror analysis is provided, extending some preliminary resultsobtained in the study of the heat equation and quasistatic viscoelastic problems.Upper and lower error bounds are obtained. Finally, some two-dimensionalnumerical simulations are presented to show the behavior of the error estimators.