A layer adaptive B‐spline collocation method for singularly perturbed one‐dimensional parabolic problem with a boundary turning point

In this article, we develop a parameter uniform numerical method for a class of singularly perturbed parabolic equations with a multiple boundary turning point on a rectangular domain. The coefficient of the first derivative with respect to x is given by the formula a₀(x, t)x^p, where a₀(x, t) ≥ α > 0 and the parameter p ∈ [1,∞) takes the arbitrary value. For small values of the parameter ε, the solution of this particular class of problem exhibits the parabolic boundary layer in a neighborhood of the boundary x = 0 of the domain. We use the implicit Euler method to discretize the temporal variable on uniform mesh and a B‐spline collocation method defined on piecewise uniform Shishkin mesh to discretize the spatial variable. Asymptotic bounds for the derivatives of the solution are established by decomposing the solution into smooth and singular component. These bounds are applied in the convergence analysis of the proposed scheme on Shishkin mesh. The resulting method is boundary layer resolving and has been shown almost second‐order accurate in space and first‐order accurate in time. It is also shown that the proposed method is uniformly convergent with respect to the singular perturbation parameter ε. Some numerical results are given to confirm the predicted theory and comparison of numerical results made with a scheme consisting of a standard upwind finite difference operator on a piecewise uniform Shishkin mesh. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 27: 1143–1164, 2011     

Grid approximation of singularly perturbed parabolic convection-diffusion equations subject to a piecewise smooth initial condition

A boundary value problem for a singularly perturbed parabolic convection-diffusion equation on an interval is considered. The higher order derivative in the equation is multiplied by a parameter ? that can take arbitrary values in the half-open interval (0, 1]. The first derivative of the initial function has a discontinuity of the first kind at the point x ₀. For small values of ?, a boundary layer with the typical width of ? appears in a neighborhood of the part of the boundary through which the convective flow leaves the domain; in a neighborhood of the characteristic of the reduced equation outgoing from the point (x ₀, 0), a transient (moving in time) layer with the typical width of ?^1/2 appears. Using the method of special grids that condense in a neighborhood of the boundary layer and the method of additive separation of the singularity of the transient layer, special difference schemes are designed that make it possible to approximate the solution of the boundary value problem ?-uniformly on the entire set $\bar G$ , approximate the diffusion flow (i.e., the product ?(?/?x)u(x, t)) on the set $\bar G^ * = \bar G\backslash \{ (x_0 ,0)\} $ , and approximate the derivative (?/?x)u(x, t) on the same set outside the m-neighborhood of the boundary layer. The approximation of the derivatives ?²(?²/?x ²)u(x, t) and (?/?t)u(x, t) on the set $\bar G^ * $ is also examined.     

Difference scheme for an initial–boundary value problem for a singularly perturbed transport equation

An initial–boundary value problem for a singularly perturbed transport equation with a perturbation parameter ε multiplying the spatial derivative is considered on the set ? = G ∪ S, where ? = D? × [0 ≤ t ≤ T], D? = {0 ≤ x ≤ d}, S = S ^l ∪ S, and S ^l and S₀ are the lateral and lower boundaries. The parameter ε takes arbitrary values from the half-open interval (0,1]. In contrast to the well-known problem for the regular transport equation, for small values of ε, this problem involves a boundary layer of width O(ε) appearing in the neighborhood of S ^l ; in the layer, the solution of the problem varies by a finite value. For this singularly perturbed problem, the solution of a standard difference scheme on a uniform grid does not converge ε-uniformly in the maximum norm. Convergence occurs only if h=dN^-1 ? ε and N₀^-1 ? 1, where N and N₀ are the numbers of grid intervals in x and t, respectively, and h is the mesh size in x. The solution of the considered problem is decomposed into the sum of regular and singular components. With the behavior of the singular component taken into account, a special difference scheme is constructed on a Shishkin mesh, i.e., on a mesh that is piecewise uniform in x and uniform in t. On such a grid, a monotone difference scheme for the initial–boundary value problem for the singularly perturbed transport equation converges ε-uniformly in the maximum norm at an ?(N^?1 + N₀^?1) rate.     

Necessary conditions for ɛ-uniform convergence of finite difference schemes for parabolic equations with moving boundary layers

A grid approximation of the boundary value problem for a singularly perturbed parabolic reaction-diffusion equation is considered in a domain with the boundaries moving along the axis x in the positive direction. For small values of the parameter ? (this is the coefficient of the higher order derivatives of the equation, ? ∈ (0, 1]), a moving boundary layer appears in a neighborhood of the left lateral boundary S ₁ ^L . In the case of stationary boundary layers, the classical finite difference schemes on piece-wise uniform grids condensing in the layers converge ?-uniformly at a rate of O(N ^?1lnN + N ₀), where N and N ₀ define the number of mesh points in x and t. For the problem examined in this paper, the classical finite difference schemes based on uniform grids converge only under the condition N ^?1 + N ₀ ^?1 ? ?. It turns out that, in the class of difference schemes on rectangular grids that are condensed in a neighborhood of S ₁ ^L with respect to x and t, the convergence under the condition N ^?1 + N ₀ ^?1 ≤ ?^1/2 cannot be achieved. Examination of widths that are similar to Kolmogorov’s widths makes it possible to establish necessary and sufficient conditions for the ?-uniform convergence of approximations of the solution to the boundary value problem. These conditions are used to design a scheme that converges ?-uniformly at a rate of O(N ^?1lnN + N ₀).     

Approximation of a system of singularly perturbed reaction-diffusion parabolic equations in a rectangle

The Dirichlet problem for a system of singularly perturbed reaction-diffusion parabolic equations in a rectangle is considered. The higher order derivatives of the equations are multiplied by a perturbation parameter ?², where ? takes arbitrary values in the interval (0, 1]. When ? vanishes, the system of parabolic equations degenerates into a system of ordinary differential equations with respect to t. When ? tends to zero, a parabolic boundary layer with a characteristic width ? appears in a neighborhood of the boundary. Using the condensing grid technique and the classical finite difference approximations of the boundary value problem, a special difference scheme is constructed that converges ?-uniformly at a rate of O(N ^?2ln² N + N ₀ ^?1 , where \(N = \mathop {\min }\limits_s N_s \), N ^s + 1 and N ₀ + 1 are the numbers of mesh points on the axes x _s and t, respectively.     

The Richardson scheme for the singularly perturbed parabolic reaction-diffusion equation in the case of a discontinuous initial condition

The Dirichlet problem for a singularly perturbed parabolic reaction-diffusion equation with a piecewise continuous initial condition in a rectangular domain is considered. The higher order derivative in the equation is multiplied by a parameter ?², where ? ∈ (0, 1]. When ? is small, a boundary and an interior layer (with the characteristic width ?) appear, respectively, in a neighborhood of the lateral part of the boundary and in a neighborhood of the characteristic of the reduced equation passing through the discontinuity point of the initial function; for fixed ?, these layers have limited smoothness. Using the method of additive splitting of singularities (induced by the discontinuities of the initial function and its low-order derivatives) and the condensing grid method (piecewise uniform grids that condense in a neighborhood of the boundary layers), a finite difference scheme is constructed that converges ?-uniformly at a rate of O(N ^?2ln² N + n ₀ ^?1 ), where N + 1 and N ₀ + 1 are the numbers of the mesh points in x and t, respectively. Based on the Richardson technique, a scheme that converges ?-uniformly at a rate of O(N ^?3 + N ₀ ^?2 ) is constructed. It is proved that the Richardson technique cannot construct a scheme that converges in ?-uniformly in x with an order greater than three.     

The use of solutions on embedded grids for the approximation of singularly perturbed parabolic convection-diffusion equations on adapted grids

The Dirichlet problem on a closed interval for a parabolic convection-diffusion equation is considered. The higher order derivative is multiplied by a parameter ? taking arbitrary values in the semi-open interval (0, 1]. For the boundary value problem, a finite difference scheme on a posteriori adapted grids is constructed. The classical approximations of the equation on uniform grids in the main domain are used; in some subdomains, these grids are subjected to refinement to improve the grid solution. The subdomains in which the grid should be refined are determined using the difference of the grid solutions of intermediate problems solved on embedded grids. Special schemes on a posteriori piecewise uniform grids are constructed that make it possible to obtain approximate solutions that converge almost ?-uniformly, i.e., with an error that weakly depends on the parameter ?: |u(x, t) ? z(x, t)| ≤ M[N ₁ ^?1 ln² N ₁ + N ₀ ^?1 lnN ₀ + ?^?1 N ₁ ^?K ln ^K?1 N ₁], (x, t) ε ? _h , where N ₁ + 1 and N ₀ + 1 are the numbers of grid points in x and t, respectively; K is the number of refinement iterations (with respect to x) in the adapted grid; and M = M(K). Outside the σ-neighborhood of the outflow part of the boundary (in a neighborhood of the boundary layer), the scheme converges ?-uniformly at a rate O(N ₁ ^?1 ln² N ₁ + N ₀ ^?1 lnN ₀), where σ ≤ MN ₁ ^{?K + 1} ln ^K?1 N ₁ for K ≥ 2.     

Grid approximation of singularly perturbed parabolic reaction-diffusion equations on large domains with respect to the space and time variables

In an unbounded (with respect to x and t) domain (and in domains that can be arbitrarily large), an initial-boundary value problem for singularly perturbed parabolic reaction-diffusion equations with the perturbation parameter ε² multiplying the higher order derivative is considered. The parameter ε takes arbitrary values in the half-open interval (0, 1]. To solve this problem, difference schemes on grids with an infinite number of nodes (formal difference schemes) are constructed that converge ε-uniformly in the entire unbounded domain. To construct these schemes, the classical grid approximations of the problem on the grids that are refined in the boundary layer are used. Schemes on grids with a finite number of nodes (constructive difference schemes) are also constructed for the problem under examination. These schemes converge for fixed values of ε in the prescribed bounded subdomains that can expand as the number of grid points increases. As ε → 0, the accuracy of the solution provided by such schemes generally deteriorates and the size of the subdomains decreases. Using the condensing grid method, constructive difference schemes that converge ε-uniformly are constructed. In these schemes, the approximation accuracy and the size of the prescribed subdomains (where the schemes are convergent) are independent of ε and the subdomains may expand as the number of nodes in the underlying grids increases.     

Sequential and parallel domain decomposition methods for a singularly perturbed parabolic convection-diffusion equation

A boundary value problem for a singularly perturbed parabolic convection-diffusion equation is considered in a rectangular domain in x and t; the perturbation parameter ? multiplying the highest derivative takes arbitrary values in the half-open interval (0,1]. For the boundary value problem, we construct a scheme based on the method of lines in x passing through N ₀+1 points of the mesh with respect to t. To solve the problem on a set of intervals, we apply a domain decomposition method (on overlapping subdomains with the overlap width δ), which is a modification of the Schwarz method. For the continual schemes of the decomposition method, we study how sequential and parallel computations, the order of priority in which the subproblems are sequentially solved on the subdomains, and the value of the parameter ? (as well as the values of N ₀, δ) influence the convergence rate of the decomposition scheme (as N ₀ → ∞), and also computational costs for solving the scheme and time required for its solution (unless a prescribed tolerance is achieved). For convection-diffusion equations, in contrast to reaction-diffusion ones, the sequential scheme turns out to be more efficient than the parallel scheme.     

Grid approximation of singularly perturbed parabolic equations with piecewise continuous initial-boundary conditions

The Dirichlet problem is considered for a singularly perturbed parabolic reaction-diffusion equation with piecewise continuous initial-boundary conditions in a rectangular domain. The highest derivative in the equation is multiplied by a parameter ? ², ? ε (0, 1]. For small values of the parameter ?, in a neighborhood of the lateral part of the boundary and in a neighborhood of the characteristic of the limit equation passing through the point of discontinuity of the initial function, there arise a boundary layer and an interior layer (of characteristic width ?), respectively, which have bounded smoothness for fixed values of the parameter ?. Using the method of additive splitting of singularities (generated by discontinuities of the boundary function and its low-order derivatives), as well as the method of condensing grids (piecewise uniform grids condensing in a neighborhood of boundary layers), we construct and investigate special difference schemes that converge ?-uniformly with the second order of accuracy in x and the first order of accuracy in t, up to logarithmic factors.     

A Richardson scheme of the decomposition method for solving singularly perturbed parabolic reaction-diffusion equation

For the one-dimensional singularly perturbed parabolic reaction-diffusion equation with a perturbation parameter ɛ, where ɛ ∈ (0, 1], the grid approximation of the Dirichlet problem on a rectangular domain in the (x, t)-plane is examined. For small ɛ, a parabolic boundary layer emerges in a neighborhood of the lateral part of the boundary of this domain. A new approach to the construction of ɛ-uniformly converging difference schemes of higher accuracy is developed for initial boundary value problems. The asymptotic construction technique is used to design the base decomposition scheme within which the regular and singular components of the grid solution are solutions to grid subproblems defined on uniform grids. The base scheme converges ɛ-uniformly in the maximum norm at the rate of O(N ⁻²ln² N + N ₀⁻¹), where N + 1 and N ₀ + 1 are the numbers of nodes in the space and time meshes, respectively. An application of the Richardson extrapolation technique to the base scheme yields a higher order scheme called the Richardson decomposition scheme. This higher order scheme convergesɛ-uniformly at the rate of O(N ⁻⁴ln⁴ N + N ₀⁻²). For fixed values of the parameter, the convergence rate is O(N ⁻⁴ + N ₀⁻²).     

Finite difference schemes for the singularly perturbed reaction-diffusion equation in the case of spherical symmetry

The boundary value problem for the singularly perturbed reaction-diffusion parabolic equation in a ball in the case of spherical symmetry is considered. The derivatives with respect to the radial variable appearing in the equation are written in divergent form. The third kind boundary condition, which admits the Dirichlet and Neumann conditions, is specified on the boundary of the domain. The Laplace operator in the differential equation involves a perturbation parameter ?², where ? takes arbitrary values in the half-open interval (0, 1]. When ? → 0, the solution of such a problem has a parabolic boundary layer in a neighborhood of the boundary. Using the integro-interpolational method and the condensing grid technique, conservative finite difference schemes on flux grids are constructed that converge ?-uniformly at a rate of O(N ^?2ln² N + N ₀ ^?1 ), where N + 1 and N ₀ + 1 are the numbers of the mesh points in the radial and time variables, respectively.     

Singularly perturbed two-dimensional parabolic problem in the case of intersecting roots of the reduced equation

The singularly perturbed parabolic equation ?u _t + ε²Δu ? f(u, x, ε) = 0, x ∈ D ? ?², t > 0 with Robin conditions on the boundary of D is considered. The asymptotic stability as t → ∞ and the global domain of attraction are analyzed for the stationary solution whose limit as ε → 0 is a nonsmooth solution to the reduced equation f(u, x, 0) = 0 that consists of two intersecting roots of this equation.     

Grid approximation of a parabolic convection-diffusion equation on a priori adapted grids: ε-uniformly convergent schemes

The boundary value problem for a singularly perturbed parabolic convection-diffusion equation is considered. A finite difference scheme on a priori (sequentially) adapted grids is constructed and its convergence is examined. The construction of the scheme on a priori adapted grids is based on a majorant of the singular component of the grid solution that makes it possible to a priori find a subdomain in which the grid solution should be further refined given the perturbation parameter ε, the size of the uniform mesh in x, the desired accuracy of the grid solution, and the prescribed number of iterations K used to refine the solution. In the subdomains where the solution is refined, the grid problems are solved on uniform grids. The error of the solution thus constructed weakly depends on ε. The scheme converges almost ε-uniformly; namely, it converges under the condition N ^?1 = o(ε^v), where v = v(K) can be chosen arbitrarily small when K is sufficiently large. If a piecewise uniform grid is used instead of a uniform one at the final Kth iteration, the difference scheme converges ε-uniformly. For this piecewise uniform grid, the ratio of the mesh sizes in x on the parts of the mesh with a constant size (outside the boundary layer and inside it) is considerably less than that for the known ε-uniformly convergent schemes on piecewise uniform grids.     

Conditioning and stability of finite difference schemes on uniform meshes for a singularly perturbed parabolic convection-diffusion equation

For a singularly perturbed parabolic convection-diffusion equation, the conditioning and stability of finite difference schemes on uniform meshes are analyzed. It is shown that a convergent standard monotone finite difference scheme on a uniform mesh is not ?-uniformly well conditioned or ?-uniformly stable to perturbations of the data of the grid problem (here, ? is a perturbation parameter, ? ∈ (0, 1]). An alternative finite difference scheme is proposed, namely, a scheme in which the discrete solution is decomposed into regular and singular components that solve grid subproblems considered on uniform meshes. It is shown that this solution decomposition scheme converges ?-uniformly in the maximum norm at an O(N ^?1lnN + N ₀ ^?1 ) rate, where N + 1 and N ₀ + 1 are the numbers of grid nodes in x and t, respectively. This scheme is ?-uniformly well conditioned and ?-uniformly stable to perturbations of the data of the grid problem. The condition number of the solution decomposition scheme is of order O(δ^?2lnδ^?1 + δ ₀ ^?1 ); i.e., up to a logarithmic factor, it is the same as that of a classical scheme on uniform meshes in the case of a regular problem. Here, δ = N ^?1lnN and δ₀ = N ₀ ^?1 are the accuracies of the discrete solution in x and t, respectively.     

Directional Derivative Problem for the Telegraph Equation with a Dirac Potential

In the domain Q = [0,∞)×[0,∞) of the variables (x, t), for the telegraph equation with a Dirac potential concentrated at a point (x₀, t₀) ∈ Q, we consider a mixed problem with initial (at t = 0) conditions on the solution and its derivative with respect to t and a condition on the boundary x = 0 which is a linear combination with coefficients depending on t of the solution and its first derivatives with respect to x and t (a directional derivative). We obtain formulas for the classical solution of this problem under certain conditions on the point (x₀, t₀), the coefficient of the Dirac potential, and the conditions of consistency of the initial and boundary data and the right-hand side of the equation at the point (0, 0). We study the behavior of the solution as the direction of the directional derivative in the boundary condition tends to a characteristic of the equation and obtain estimates of the difference between the corresponding solutions.     

Singularly Perturbed Parabolic Problems with Multidimensional Boundary Layers

The first boundary value problem for a multidimensional parabolic differential equation with a small parameter ε multiplying all derivatives is studied. A complete (i.e., of any order with respect to the parameter) regularized asymptotics of the solution is constructed, which contains a multidimensional boundary layer function that is bounded for x = (x¹, x₂) = 0 and tends to zero as ε → +0 for x ≠ 0. In addition, it contains corner boundary layer functions described by the product of a boundary layer function of the exponential type by a multidimensional parabolic boundary layer function.     

Computer difference scheme for a singularly perturbed elliptic convection–diffusion equation in the presence of perturbations

A grid approximation of a boundary value problem for a singularly perturbed elliptic convection–diffusion equation with a perturbation parameter ε, ε ∈ (0,1], multiplying the highest order derivatives is considered on a rectangle. The stability of a standard difference scheme based on monotone approximations of the problem on a uniform grid is analyzed, and the behavior of discrete solutions in the presence of perturbations is examined. With an increase in the number of grid nodes, this scheme does not converge -uniformly in the maximum norm, but only conditional convergence takes place. When the solution of the difference scheme converges, which occurs if N ₁ ^-1 N ₂ ^-1 ? ε, where N ₁ and N ₂ are the numbers of grid intervals in x and y, respectively, the scheme is not -uniformly well-conditioned or ε-uniformly stable to data perturbations in the grid problem and to computer perturbations. For the standard difference scheme in the presence of data perturbations in the grid problem and/or computer perturbations, conditions imposed on the “parameters” of the difference scheme and of the computer (namely, on ε, N ₁,N ₂, admissible data perturbations in the grid problem, and admissible computer perturbations) are obtained that ensure the convergence of the perturbed solutions as N ₁,N ₂ → ∞, ε ∈ (0,1]. The difference schemes constructed in the presence of the indicated perturbations that converges as N ₁,N ₂ → ∞ for fixed ε, ε ∈ (0,1, is called a computer difference scheme. Schemes converging ε-uniformly and conditionally converging computer schemes are referred to as reliable schemes. Conditions on the data perturbations in the standard difference scheme and on computer perturbations are also obtained under which the convergence rate of the solution to the computer difference scheme has the same order as the solution of the standard difference scheme in the absence of perturbations. Due to this property of its solutions, the computer difference scheme can be effectively used in practical computations.     

A Relation between formal and Asymptotic Equivalence for linear Systems Containing A Parameter

We use an elementary method to draw analytic conclusions from divergent formal power series solutions of systems of differential equations containing a parameter and give some applications to the theory of turning points. Our main result shows that a divergent formal series transformation of one system into another in which the coefficients satisfy certain estimates is necessarily the asymptotic expansion of an actual transformation. We use it to show the following. Given a two dimensional system ε^Pdy/dx = A(x,ε)y with A holomorphic at (x₀,0), suppose that x₀ is formally not a turning point in the sense that no singularities appear at x₀ during the standard formal solution procedure with formal fractional power series in ε. Then the formal solution is necessarily a uniform asymptotic representation of a fundamental matrix of the system on a full neighborhood of x₀. (This conclusion is known to fail under weaker hypotheses on A). We also obtain similar but less complete results for higher order systems under more specialized hypotheses.     

Asymptotics of the Velocity Potential of an Ideal Fluid Flowing around a Thin Body

We consider the Neumann problem outside a small neighborhood of a planar disk in the three-dimensional space. The surface of this neighborhood is assumed to be smooth, and its thickness is characterized by a small parameter ε. A uniform asymptotic expansion of the solution of this problem with respect to ε is constructed by the matching method. Since the problem turned out to be bisingular, an additional inner asymptotic expansion in the so-called stretched variables is constructed near the edge of the disk. A physical interpretation of the solution of this boundary value problem is the velocity potential of a laminar flow of an ideal fluid around a thin body, which is the neighborhood of the disk. It is assumed that this flow has unit velocity at a large distance from the disk, which is equivalent to the following condition for the potential: u(x₁, x₂, x₃, ε) = x₃+O(r^?2) as r → ∞, where r is the distance to the origin. The boundary condition of this problem is the impermeability of the surface of the body: ?u/?n = 0 at the boundary. After subtracting x₃ from the solution u(x₁, x₂, x₃, ε), we get a boundary value problem for the potential ?(x₁, x₂, x₃, ε) of the perturbed motion. Since the integral of the function ??/?n over the surface of the body is zero, we have ?(x₁, x₂, x₃, ε) = O(r^?2) as r → ∞. Hence, all the coefficients of the outer asymptotic expansion with respect to ε have the same behavior at infinity. However, these coefficients have growing singularities at the approach to the edge of the disk, which implies the bisingularity of the problem.