Complementary solutions of direct current flow problems

An error-based approach is used for the systematic derivation of complementary variational principles for the problem of steady current flow in conductors. Using two-dimensional finite-element solution results, the significance of combined presentation of complementary computational results is discussed, and the distribution of the numerical error is displayed graphically. It is shown that the limits of the theory of complementary variational principles are decreed by boundary specifications, and that, under certain circumstances, a treatment is available for transcending them. Finally, the error-based approach is applied to the circuit version of the direct-current flow problem