Fourth-order finite difference scheme for a system of quasilinear elliptic equations

The system of two quasilinear elliptic equations is approximated by the method of lines, which has the truncation error O(h²) at points neighboring the boundary and O(h⁴) at the most interior points. It is proved that the global error of the method is O(h⁴) at all mesh points. The two-point boundary value problem for the system of ordinary differential equations that arises from the method of lines is solved by the O(h⁴) convergent finite difference scheme, suitable to the equations of the form u_xx = f(x, u) without the first derivative u_x. The system of algebraic equations obtained by the full discretization is solved by Gauss elimination method for three diagonal matrices combined with the method of iterations. A numerical example is presented.     

Solving the equation −uxx − ϵuyy = f(x,y, u) by an O(h4) finite difference method

The semi‐linear equation −u_xx − ϵu_yy = f(x, y, u) with Dirichlet boundary conditions is solved by an O(h⁴) finite difference method, which has local truncation error O(h²) at the mesh points neighboring the boundary and O(h⁴) at most interior mesh points. It is proved that the finite difference method is O(h⁴) uniformly convergent as h → 0. The method is considered in the form of a system of algebraic equations with a nine diagonal sparse matrix. The system of algebraic equations is solved by an implicit iterative method combined with Gauss elimination. A Mathematica module is designed for the purpose of testing and using the method. To illustrate the method, the equation of twisting a springy rod is solved. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 16: 395–407, 2000     

On the use of splines for the numerical solution of nonlinear two-point boundary value problems

Cubic splines on splines and quintic spline interpolations are used to approximate the derivative terms in a highly accurate scheme for the numerical solution of two-point boundary value problems. The storage requirement is essentially the same as for the usual trapezoidal rule but the local accuracy is improved fromO(h ³) to eitherO(h ⁶) orO(h ⁷), whereh is the net size. The use of splines leads to solutions that reflect the smoothness of the slopes of the differential equations.     

The stability and convergence of two linearized finite difference schemes for the nonlinear epitaxial growth model

The numerical simulation of the dynamics of the molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth is considered in this article. The governing equation is a nonlinear evolutionary equation that is of linear fourth order derivative term and nonlinear second order derivative term in space. The main purpose of this work is to construct and analyze two linearized finite difference schemes for solving the MBE model. The linearized backward Euler difference scheme and the linearized Crank‐Nicolson difference scheme are derived. The unique solvability, unconditional stability and convergence are proved. The linearized Euler scheme is convergent with the convergence order of O(τ + h²) and linearized Crank‐Nicolson scheme is convergent with the convergence order of O(τ² + h²) in discrete L²‐norm, respectively. Numerical stability with respect to the initial conditions is also obtained for both schemes. Numerical experiments are carried out to demonstrate the theoretical analysis. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2011     

Compact difference schemes for heat equation with Neumann boundary conditions (II)

This is the further work on compact finite difference schemes for heat equation with Neumann boundary conditions subsequent to the paper, [Sun, Numer Methods Partial Differential Equations (NMPDE) 25 (2009), 1320–1341]. A different compact difference scheme for the one‐dimensional linear heat equation is developed. Truncation errors of the proposed scheme are O(τ² + h⁴) for interior mesh point approximation and O(τ² + h³) for the boundary condition approximation with the uniform partition. The new obtained scheme is similar to the one given by Liao et al. (NMPDE 22 (2006), 600–616), while the major difference lies in no extension of source terms to outside the computational domain any longer. Compared with ones obtained by Zhao et al. (NMPDE 23 (2007), 949–959) and Dai (NMPDE 27 (2011), 436–446), numerical solutions at all mesh points including two boundary points are computed in our new scheme. The significant advantage of this work is to provide a rigorous analysis of convergence order for the obtained compact difference scheme using discrete energy method. The global accuracy is O(τ² + h⁴) in discrete maximum norm, although the spatial approximation order at the Neumann boundary is one lower than that for interior mesh points. The analytical techniques are important and can be successfully used to solve the open problem presented by Sun (NMPDE 25 (2009), 1320–1341), where analyzed theoretical convergence order of the scheme by Liao et al. (NMPDE 22 (2006), 600–616) is only O(τ² + h^3.5) while the numerical accuracy is O(τ² + h⁴), and convergence order of theoretical analysis for the scheme by Zhao et al. (NMPDE 23 (2007), 949–959) is O(τ² + h^2.5), while the actual numerical accuracy is O(τ² + h³). Following the procedure used for the new obtained difference scheme in this work, convergence orders of these two schemes can be proved rigorously to be O(τ² + h⁴) and O(τ² + h³), respectively. Meanwhile, extension to the case involving the nonlinear reaction term is also discussed, and the global convergence order O(τ² + h⁴) is proved. A compact ADI difference scheme for solving two‐dimensional case is derived. Finally, several examples are given to demonstrate the numerical accuracy of new obtained compact difference schemes. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2013     

A Priori Error Estimates of Crank–Nicolson Finite Volume Element Method for a Hyperbolic Optimal Control Problem

In this article, a Crank–Nicolson linear finite volume element scheme is developed to solve a hyperbolic optimal control problem. We use the variational discretization technique for the approximation of the control variable. The optimal convergent order O(h² + k²) is proved for the numerical solution of the control, state and adjoint‐state in a discrete L²‐norm. To derive this result, we also get the error estimate (convergent order O(h² + k²)) of Crank–Nicolson finite volume element approximation for the second‐order hyperbolic initial boundary value problem. Numerical experiments are presented to verify the theoretical results.© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 32: 1331–1356, 2016     

A P0–P0 weak Galerkin finite element method for solving singularly perturbed reaction–diffusion problems

This paper investigates the lowest-order weak Galerkin finite element (WGFE) method for solving reaction–diffusion equations with singular perturbations in two and three space dimensions. The system of linear equations for the new scheme is positive definite, and one might readily get the well-posedness of the system. Our numerical experiments confirmed our error analysis that our WGFE method of the lowest order could deliver numerical approximations of the order O(h^1/2) and O(h) in H¹ and L² norms, respectively.     

Superconvergent interpolants for collocation methods applied to Volterra integro-differential equations with delay

Standard software based on the collocation method for differential equations delivers a continuous approximation (called the collocation solution) which augments the high order discrete approximate solution that is provided at mesh points. This continuous approximation is less accurate than the discrete approximation. For ‘non-standard’ Volterra integro-differential equations with constant delay, that often arise in modeling predator-prey systems in Ecology, the collocation solution is C ⁰ continuous. The accuracy is O(h ^s+1) at off-mesh points and O(h ^2s ) at mesh points where s is the number of Gauss points used per subinterval and h refers to the stepsize. We will show how to construct C ¹ interpolants with an accuracy at off-mesh points and mesh points of the same order (2s). This implies that even for coarse mesh selections we achieve an accurate and smooth approximate solution. Specific schemes are presented for s=2, 3, and numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of the new interpolants.     

Parameter-robust numerical method for a system of singularly perturbed initial value problems

In this work we study a system of M( ≥ 2) first-order singularly perturbed ordinary differential equations with given initial conditions. The leading term of each equation is multiplied by a distinct small positive parameter, which induces overlapping layers. A maximum principle does not, in general, hold for this system. It is discretized using backward Euler difference scheme for which a general convergence result is derived that allows to establish nodal convergence of O(N ^− 1ln N) on the Shishkin mesh and O(N ^− 1) on the Bakhvalov mesh, where N is the number of mesh intervals and the convergence is robust in all of the parameters. Numerical experiments are performed to support the theoretical results.     

Improved approximations of the solution and derivatives to a singularly perturbed reaction-diffusion equation based on the solution decomposition method

In the case of the Dirichlet problem for a singularly perturbed ordinary differential reaction-diffusion equation, a new approach is used to the construction of finite difference schemes such that their solutions and their normalized first- and second-order derivatives converge in the maximum norm uniformly with respect to a perturbation parameter ɛ ∈(0, 1]; the normalized derivatives are ɛ-uniformly bounded. The key idea of this approach to the construction of ɛ-uniformly convergent finite difference schemes is the use of uniform grids for solving grid subproblems for the regular and singular components of the grid solution. Based on the asymptotic construction technique, a scheme of the solution decomposition method is constructed such that its solution and its normalized first- and second-order derivatives converge ɛ-uniformly at the rate of O(N ⁻²ln² N), where N + 1 is the number of points in the uniform grids. Using the Richardson technique, an improved scheme of the solution decomposition method is constructed such that its solution and its normalized first and second derivatives converge ɛ-uniformly in the maximum norm at the same rate of O(N ⁻⁴ln⁴ N).     

E-stable methods for exponentially decreasing solutions of second order initial value problems

In this paperE-stable methods ofO(h ⁴),O(h ⁸) andO(h ¹²) are derived for the direct numerical integration of initial value problems of second order differential equations with exponentially decreasing solutions. Numerical results are presented for both linear and nonlinear problems.     

Cubic spline functions and initial value problems

A numerical process is presented which provides a cubic spline function approximation for the solution of initial value problems in ordinary differential equations. With interpolate cubic spline functions we can achieveO(h ⁴) convergence.     

On an algorithm of Milne and Reynolds

The Milne-Reynolds averaging technique is extended to all weakly stable methods of numerical integration of ordinary differential equations, and a numerical example is presented. Also, a Milne-Reynolds average is given which reduces by a factor ofO(h ^2l+1) the unstable component of the error arising with Milne's methods without changing the order of the truncation error. The average is given explicitly forl=1,2.     

Stability and convergence of a fully discrete local discontinuous Galerkin method for multi-term time fractional diffusion equations

In this paper, a fully discrete local discontinuous Galerkin method for a class of multi-term time fractional diffusion equations is proposed and analyzed. Using local discontinuous Galerkin method in spatial direction and classical L1 approximation in temporal direction, a fully discrete scheme is established. By choosing the numerical flux carefully, we prove that the method is unconditionally stable and convergent with order O(h ^k+1 + (Δt)^2?α ), where k, h, and Δt are the degree of piecewise polynomial, the space, and time step sizes, respectively. Numerical examples are carried out to illustrate the effectiveness of the numerical scheme.     

Numerical analysis of a strongly coupled system of two singularly perturbed convection–diffusion problems

A system of two coupled singularly perturbed convection–diffusion ordinary differential equations is examined. The diffusion term in each equation is multiplied by a small parameter, and the equations are coupled through their convective terms. The problem does not satisfy a conventional maximum principle. Its solution is decomposed into regular and layer components. Bounds on the derivatives of these components are established that show explicitly their dependence on the small parameter. A numerical method consisting of simple upwinding and an appropriate piecewise-uniform Shishkin mesh is shown to generate numerical approximations that are essentially first order convergent, uniformly in the small parameter, to the true solution in the discrete maximum norm.      

A locking-free nonconforming triangular element for planar elasticity with pure traction boundary condition

A new nonconforming triangular element for the equations of planar linear elasticity with pure traction boundary conditions is considered. By virtue of construction of the element, the discrete version of Korn’s second inequality is directly proved to be valid. Convergence rate of the finite element methods is uniformly optimal with respect to λ. Error estimates in the energy norm and L²-norm are O(h²) and O(h³), respectively.     

Maximum error estimates for a compact difference scheme of the coupled nonlinear Schrödinger–Boussinesq equations

The coupled nonlinear Schrödinger–Boussinesq (SBq) equations describe the nonlinear development of modulational instabilities associated with Langmuir field amplitude coupled to intense electromagnetic wave in dispersive media such as plasmas. In this paper, we present a conservative compact difference scheme for the coupled SBq equations and analyze the conservative property and the existence of the scheme. Then we prove that the scheme is convergent with convergence order O(τ² + h⁴) in L_∞‐norm and is stable in L_∞‐norm. Numerical results verify the theoretical analysis.     

Solving Fredholm integral equations by approximating kernels by spline quasi-interpolants

We study two methods for solving a univariate Fredholm integral equation of the second kind, based on (left and right) partial approximations of the kernel K by a discrete quartic spline quasi-interpolant. The principle of each method is to approximate the kernel with respect to one variable, the other remaining free. This leads to an approximation of K by a degenerate kernel. We give error estimates for smooth functions, and we show that the method based on the left (resp. right) approximation of the kernel has an approximation order O(h ⁵) (resp. O(h ⁶)). We also compare the obtained formulae with projection methods.     

A second order nonconforming rectangular finite element method for approximating Maxwell’s equations

The main objective of this paper is to present a new rectangular nonconforming finite element scheme with the second order convergence behavior for approximation of Maxwell’s equations.Then the corresponding optimal error estimates are derived.The difficulty in construction of this finite element scheme is how to choose a compatible pair of degrees of freedom and shape function space so as to make the consistency error due to the nonconformity of the element being of order O(h 3 ) ,properly one order higher than that of its interpolation error O(h 2 ) in the broken energy norm,where h is the subdivision parameter tending to zero.     

Numerical approximation of solution for the coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations

In this article, a compact finite difference scheme for the coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations is studied. The scheme is proved to conserve the original conservative properties. Unconditional stability and convergence in maximum norm with order O(τ² + h⁴) are also proved by the discrete energy method. Finally, numerical results are provided to verify the theoretical analysis.