An adaptive method for the Stefan problem and its application to endoglacial conduits

This paper concerns an adaptive finite element method for the Stefan one-phase problem. We derive a parabolic variational inequality using the Duvaut transformation [1]. In each time-step we consider an adaptive algorithm based on a combination of the Uzawa method associated with the corresponding multivalued operator and a convergent adaptive method for the linear problem. We justify the convergence of the method. As an application we model an endoglacial conduit in which a phase change phenomenon takes place.