Residual-Based A Posteriori Error Estimate for a Nonconforming Reissner-Mindlin Plate Finite Element

Reliable and efficient residual-based a posteriori error estimates are established for the nonconforming finite element method for the Reissner--Mindlin plate due to Arnold and Falk [SIAM J. Numer. Anal., 26 (1989), pp. 1276--1290]. The error is estimated by a computable error estimator from above and below up to multiplicative constants that depend neither on the mesh-size nor on the plate's thickness. The error is controlled in norms that are known to converge to zero in a quasi-optimal way.