A fourth order ADI method for semidiscrete parabolic equations

A fourth order fourstep ADI method is described for solving the systems of ordinary differential equations which are obtained when a (nonlinear) parabolic initial-boundary value problem in two dimensions is semi-discretized. The local time-discretization error and the stability conditions are derived. By numerical experiments it is demonstrated that the (asymptotic) fourth order behaviour does not degenerate if the time step increases to relatively large values. Also a comparison is made with the classical ADI method of Peaceman and Rachford showing the superiority of the fourth order method in the higher accuracy region, particularly in nonlinear problems.