Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 June 2009
In this paper, we study a postprocessing procedure for improvingaccuracy of the finite volume element approximations of semilinearparabolic problems. The procedure amounts to solve a source problemon a coarser grid and then solve a linear elliptic problem on afiner grid after the time evolution is finished. We derive errorestimates in the L 2 and H 1 norms for the standard finitevolume element scheme and an improved error estimate in the H 1 norm. Numerical results demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency ofthe procedure.