A note on error expressions for reflected and averaged implicit Runge-Kutta methods

In addition to their usefulness in the numerical solution of initial value ODE's, the implicit Runge-Kutta (IRK) methods are also important for the solution of two-point boundary value problems. Recently, several classes of modified IRK methods which improve significantly on the efficiency of the standard IRK methods in this application have been presented. One such class is the Averaged IRK methods; a member of the class is obtained by applying an averaging operation to a non-symmetric IRK method and its reflection. In this paper we investigate the forms of the error expressions for reflected and averaged IRK methods. Our first result relates the expression for the local error of the reflected method to that of the original method. The main result of this paper relates the error expression of an averaged method to that of the method upon which it is based. We apply these results to show that for each member of the class of the averaged methods, there exists an embedded lower order method which can be used for error estimation, in a formula-pair fashion.This work was supported by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada.     

A note onB-stability of Runge-Kutta methods

Summary Burrage and Butcher [1, 2] and Crouzeix [4] introduced for Runge-Kutta methods the concepts ofB-stability,BN-stability and algebraic stability. In this paper we prove that for any irreducible Runge-Kutta method these three stability concepts are equivalent.Chapters 1–3 of this article have been written by the second author, whereas chapter 4 has been written by the first author     

Pseudo-symplectic Runge-Kutta methods

Apart from specific methods amenable to specific problems, symplectic Runge-Kutta methods are necessarily implicit. The aim of this paper is to construct explicit Runge-Kutta methods which mimic symplectic ones as far as the linear growth of the global error is concerned. Such method of orderp have to bepseudo-symplectic of pseudosymplecticness order2p, i.e. to preserve the symplectic form to within ⊗(h ^2p )-terms. Pseudo-symplecticness conditions are then derived and the effective construction of methods discussed. Finally, the performances of the new methods are illustrated on several test problems.     

A criterion forP-stability properties of Runge-Kutta methods

P-stability is an analogous stability property toA-stability with respect to delay differential equations. It is defined by using a scalar test equation similar to the usual test equation ofA-stability. EveryP-stable method isA-stable, but anA-stable method is not necessarilyP-stable. We considerP-stability of Runge-Kutta (RK) methods and its variation which was originally introduced for multistep methods by Bickart, and derive a sufficient condition for an RK method to have the stability properties on the basis of an algebraic characterization ofA-stable RK methods recently obtained by Schere and Müller. By making use of the condition we clarify stability properties of some SIRK and SDIRK methods, which are easier to implement than fully implicit methods, applied to delay differential equations.     

A necessary condition forB-convergence of Runge-Kutta methods

Algebraic stability is a well-known property necessary forB-convergence of a Runge-Kutta method, provided its nodesc _i are such thatc _i – c _j wheneveri j. In this paper a slightly weaker property is established which becomes algebraic stability as soon asc _i – c _j , wheneveri j is excluded.Using this condition it is shown that the Lobatto IIIA methods with more than two stages cannot beB-convergent.This paper was written while the author was visiting the Rijksuniversiteit Leiden in the Netherlands, supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (N.W.O.) and by an Erwin Schrödinger scholarship from the Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung.     

Runge-Kutta methods for quadratic ordinary differential equations

Many systems of ordinary differential equations are quadratic: the derivative can be expressed as a quadratic function of the dependent variable. We demonstrate that this feature can be exploited in the numerical solution by Runge-Kutta methods, since the quadratic structure serves to decrease the number of order conditions. We discuss issues related to construction design and implementation and present a number of new methods of Runge-Kutta and Runge-Kutta-Nyström type that display superior behaviour when applied to quadratic ordinary differential equations.     

Supplement: Efficient weak second order stochastic Runge-Kutta methods for non-commutative Stratonovich stochastic differential equations

This paper gives a modification of a class of stochastic Runge-Kutta methods proposed in a paper by Komori (2007). The slight modification can reduce the computational costs of the methods significantly.     

NP-stability of Runge-Kutta methods based on classical quadrature

Recently Bellen, Jackiewicz and Zennaro have studied stability properties of Runge-Kutta (RK) methods for neutral delay differential equations using a scalar test equation. In particular, they have shown that everyA-stable collocation method isNP-stable, i.e., the method has an analogous stability property toA-stability with respect to the test equation. Consequently, the Gauss, Radau IIA and Lobatto IIIA methods areNP-stable. In this paper, we examine the stability of RK methods based on classical quadrature by a slightly different approach from theirs. As a result, we prove that the Radau IA and Lobatto IIIC methods equipped with suitable continuous extensions are alsoNP-stable by virtue of fundamental notions related to those methods such as simplifying conditions, algebraic stability, and theW-transformation.     

On implicit Runge-Kutta methods with high stage order

It is well known that high stage order is a desirable property for implicit Runge-Kutta methods. In this paper it is shown that it is always possible to construct ans-stage IRK method with a given stability function and stage orders−1 if the stability function is an approximation to the exponential function of at least orders. It is further indicated how to construct such methods as well as in which cases the constructed methods will be stiffly accurate.     

Optimal order diagonally implicit Runge-Kutta methods

In this paper, the optimal order of non-confluent Diagonally Implicit Runge-Kutta (DIRK) methods with non-zero weights is examined. It is shown that the order of aq-stage non-confluent DIRK method with non-zero weights cannot exceedq+1. In particular the optimal order of aq stage non-confluent DIRK method with non-zero weights isq+1 for 1q5. DIRK methods of orders five and six in four and five stages respectively are constructed. It is further shown that the optimal order of a non-confluentq stage DIRK method with non-zero weights isq, forq6.     

A bound on the maximum strong order of stochastic Runge-Kutta methods for stochastic ordinary differential equations

In Burrage and Burrage [1] it was shown that by introducing a very general formulation for stochastic Runge-Kutta methods, the previous strong order barrier of order one could be broken without having to use higher derivative terms. In particular, methods of strong order 1.5 were developed in which a Stratonovich integral of order one and one of order two were present in the formulation. In this present paper, general order results are proven about the maximum attainable strong order of these stochastic Runge-Kutta methods (SRKs) in terms of the order of the Stratonovich integrals appearing in the Runge-Kutta formulation. In particular, it will be shown that if ans-stage SRK contains Stratonovich integrals up to orderp then the strong order of the SRK cannot exceed min{(p+1)/2, (s−1)/2},p≥2,s≥3 or 1 ifp=1.     

New embedded explicit pairs of exponentially fitted Runge-Kutta methods

Two new embedded pairs of exponentially fitted explicit Runge-Kutta methods with four and five stages for the numerical integration of initial value problems with oscillatory or periodic solutions are developed. In these methods, for a given fixed ω the coefficients of the formulae of the pair are selected so that they integrate exactly systems with solutions in the linear space generated by {sinh(ωt),cosh(ωt)}, the estimate of the local error behaves as O(h⁴) and the high-order formula has fourth-order accuracy when the stepsize h→0. These new pairs are compared with another one proposed by Franco [J.M. Franco, An embedded pair of exponentially fitted explicit Runge-Kutta methods, J. Comput. Appl. Math. 149 (2002) 407-414] on several problems to test the efficiency of the new methods.     

A uniqueness result related to the stability of explicit Runge-Kutta methods

The polynomial associated with the largest disk of stability of anm-stage explict Runge-Kutta method of orderp is unique.     

Some stability results for explicit Runge-Kutta methods

The theory of positive real functions is used to provide bounds for the largest possible disk to be inscribed in the stability region of an explicit Runge-Kutta method. In particular, we show that the closed disk |+r| r can be contained in the stability region of an explicitm-stage Runge-Kutta method of order two if and only ifr m – 1.     

Stability of Runge-Kutta methods for the generalized pantograph equation

Summary. This paper deals with stability properties of Runge-Kutta (RK) methods applied to a non-autonomous delay differential equation (DDE) with a constant delay which is obtained from the so-called generalized pantograph equation, an autonomous DDE with a variable delay by a change of the independent variable. It is shown that in the case where the RK matrix is regular stability properties of the RK method for the DDE are derived from those for a difference equation, which are examined by similar techniques to those in the case of autonomous DDEs with a constant delay. As a result, it is shown that some RK methods based on classical quadrature have a superior stability property with respect to the generalized pantograph equation. Stability of algebraically stable natural RK methods is also considered. Received May 5, 1998 / Revised version received November 17, 1998 / Published online September 24, 1999     

The order ofB-convergence of algebraically stable Runge-Kutta methods

In a previous paper it was shown that for a class of semi-linear problems many high order Runge-Kutta methods have order of optimalB-convergence one higher than the stage order. In this paper we show that for the more general class of nonlinear dissipative problems such as result holds only for a small class of Runge-Kutta methods and that such methods have at most classical order 3.     

A class of pseudo Runge-Kutta methods

This paper develops a general theory for a class of Runge-Kutta methods which are based, in addition to the stages of the current step, also on the stages of the previous step. Such methods have been introduced previously for the case of one and two stages. We show that for any numbers of stages methods of orderp withs+1 p 2s can be constructed. The paper terminates with a study of step size change and stability.     

A stability property ofA-stable natural Runge-Kutta methods for systems of delay differential equations

A natural Runge-Kutta method is a special type of Runge-Kutta method for delay differential equations (DDEs); it is known that any one-step collocation method is equivalent to one of such methods. In this paper, we consider a linear constant-coefficient system of DDEs with a constant delay, and discuss the application of natural Runge-Kutta methods to the system. We show that anA-stable method preserves the asymptotic stability property of the analytical solutions of the system.     

Contractivity of Runge-Kutta methods

In this paper we present necessary and sufficient conditions for Runge-Kutta methods to be contractive. We consider not only unconditional contractivity for arbitrary dissipative initial value problems, but also conditional contractivity for initial value problems where the right hand side function satisfies a circle condition. Our results are relevant for arbitrary norms, in particular for the maximum norm.For contractive methods, we also focus on the question whether there exists a unique solution to the algebraic equations in each step. Further we show that contractive methods have a limited order of accuracy. Various optimal methods are presented, mainly of explicit type. We provide a numerical illustration to our theoretical results by applying the method of lines to a parabolic and a hyperbolic partial differential equation.Research supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (N.W.O.) and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (K.N.A.W.)     

Half-explicit Runge-Kutta methods for semi-explicit differential-algebraic equations of index 1

Summary For the numerical solution of non-stiff semi-explicit differentialalgebraic equations (DAEs) of index 1 half-explicit Runge-Kutta methods (HERK) are considered that combine an explicit Runge-Kutta method for the differential part with a simplified Newton method for the (approximate) solution of the algebraic part of the DAE. Two principles for the choice of the initial guesses and the number of Newton steps at each stage are given that allow to construct HERK of the same order as the underlying explicit Runge-Kutta method. Numerical tests illustrate the efficiency of these methods.