An a posteriori error estimator is obtained for a nonconforming finite element approximation of a linear elliptic problem, which is derived from a corresponding unbounded domain problem by applying a nonlocal approximate artificial boundary condition. Our method can be easily extended to obtain a class of a posteriori error estimators for various conforming and nonconforming finite element approximations of problems with different artificial boundary conditions. The reliability and efficiency of our a posteriori error estimator are rigorously proved and are verified by numerical examples.
