On the relation between algebraic stability andB-convergence for Runge-Kutta methods

Summary This paper is concerned with the numerical solution of stiff initial value problems for systems of ordinary differential equations using Runge-Kutta methods. For these and other methods Frank, Schneid and Ueberhuber [7] introduced the important concept ofB-convergence, i.e. convergence with error bounds only depending on the stepsizes, the smoothness of the exact solution and the so-called one-sided Lipschitz constant . Spijker [19] proved for the case <0 thatB-convergence follows from algebraic stability, the well-known criterion for contractivity (cf. [1, 2]). We show that the order ofB-convergence in this case is generally equal to the stage-order, improving by one half the order obtained in [19]. Further it is proved that algebraic stability is not only sufficient but also necessary forB-convergence.This study was completed while this author was visiting the Oxford University Computing Laboratory with a stipend from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (N.W.O.)     

Stability estimates based on numerical ranges with an application to a spectral method

This paper is concerned with the stability of numerical processes for solving initial value problems. We present a stability result which is related to a well-known theorem by von Neumann, but the requirements to be satisfied are less severe and easier to verify.As an illustration we consider a simple convection-diffusion equation. For the spatial discretization we use a spectral collocation method (based on so-called Legendre-Gauss-Lobatto points). We show that the fully discretized numerical process is stable, provided that the temporal step size is bounded by a constant depending only on the convection-diffusion equation, the number of collocation points and the time-stepping method under consideration.This research has been supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (N.W.O.).     

Contractivity of locally one-dimensional splitting methods

Summary The aim of this paper is to study contractivity properties of two locally one-dimensional splitting methods for non-linear, multi-space dimensional parabolic partial differential equations. The term contractivity means that perturbations shall not propagate in the course of the time integration process. By relating the locally one-dimensional methods with contractive integration formulas for ordinary differential systems it can be shown that the splitting methods define contractive numerical solutions for a large class of non-linear parabolic problems without restrictions on the size of the time step.     

A note on contractivity in the numerical solution of initial value problems

This paper concerns the stability analysis of numerical methods for approximating the solutions to (stiff) initial value problems. Our analysis includes the case of (nonlinear) systems of differential equations that are essentially more general than the classical test equationU=U, with a complex constant.We explore the relation between two stability concepts, viz. the concepts of contractivity and weak contractivity.General Runge-Kutta methods, one-stage Rosenbrock methods and a notable rational Runge-Kutta method are analysed in some detail.     

Contractivity preserving explicit linear multistep methods

Summary We investigate contractivity properties of explicit linear multistep methods in the numerical solution of ordinary differential equations. The emphasis is on the general test-equation , whereA is a square matrix of arbitrary orders1. The contractivity is analysed with respect to arbitrary norms in thes-dimensional space (which are not necessarily generated by an inner product). For given order and stepnumber we construct optimal multistep methods allowing the use of a maximal stepsize.This research has been supported by the Netherlands organisation for scientific research (NWO)     

Pseudospectra for matrix pencils and stability of equilibria

The concept of ε-pseudospectra for matrices, introduced by Trefethen and his coworkers, has been studied extensively since 1990. In this paper, ε-pseudospectra for matrix pencils, which are relevant in connection with generalized eigenvalue problems, are considered. Some properties as well as the practical computation of ε-pseudospectra for matrix pencils will be discussed. As an application, we demonstrate how this concept can be used for investigating the asymptotic stability of stationary solutions to time-dependent ordinary or partial differential equations; two cases, based on Burgers' equation, will be shown. This research has been supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (N.W.O.)     

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.     

On the Contractivity Region of Runge-Kutta Methods

In this paper we first introduce the definition of contractivity region of Runge-Kutta methods and then examine the general features of the contractivity regions. We find that the intersections of the contractivity region and the axis place is $C^s$ are always either the whole axis plane or a generalized disk introduced by Dahlquist and Jeltsch. We also define the AN-contractivity and show that it is equivalent to the algebraic stability and can be determined locally in a neighborhood of the origion. However, many implicit methods are only r-circle contractive but not AN-contractive. A simple bound for the radius r of the r-circle contractive methods is given.     

Boundary value methods for the solution of differential-algebraic equations

Summary Boundary value techniques for the solution of initial value problems of ODEs, despite their apparent higher cost, present some important advantages over initial value methods. Among them, there is the possibility to have greater accuracy, to control the global error, and to have an efficient parallel implementation.In this paper, the same techniques are applied to the solution of linear initial value problems of DAEs. We have considered three term numerical methods (Midpoint, Simpson, and an Adams type method) in order to obtain a block tridiagonal linear system as a discrete problem.Convergence results are stated in the case of constant coefficients, and numerical examples are given on linear time-varying problems.Work supported by the Ministero della Ricerca Scientifica, 40% project, and by the C.N.R. (contract of research # 92.00535.CT01)     

Contractive methods for stiff differential equations part I

An integration method for ordinary differential equations is said to be contractive if all numerical solutions of the test equationx=x generated by that method are not only bounded (as required for stability) but non-increasing. We develop a theory of contractivity for methods applied to stiff and non-stiff, linear and nonlinear problems. This theory leads to the design of a collection of specific contractive Adams-type methods of different orders of accuracy which are optimal with respect to certain measures of accuracy and/or contractivity. Theoretical and numerical results indicate that some of these novel methods are more efficient for solving problems with a lack of smoothness than are the familiar backward differentiation methods. This lack of smoothness may be either inherent in the problem itself, or due to the use of strongly varying integration steps. In solving smooth problems, the efficiency of the low-order contractive methods we propose is approximately the same as that of the corresponding backward differentiation methods.This work was done during the first author's stay at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center under his appointment as Senior Researcher of the Academy of Finland. It was sponsored in addition by the IBM Corporation and by the AirForce Office of Scientific Research (AFSC), United States Air Force, under contracts No. F44620-75-C-0058 and F49620-77-C-0088. The United States Government is authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for governmental purposes notwithstanding any copyright notation hereon.     

Monotonicity and boundedness in implicit Runge-Kutta methods

Summary This paper concerns the analysis of implicit Runge-Kutta methods for approximating the solutions to stiff initial value problems. The analysis includes the case of (nonlinear) systems of differential equations that are essentially more general than the classical test equationU=U (with a complex constant). The properties of monotonicity and boundedness of a method refer to specific moderate rates of growth of the approximations during the numerical calculations. This paper provides necessary conditions for these properties by using the important concept of algebraic stability (introduced by Burrage, Butcher and by Crouzeix). These properties will also be related to the concept of contractivity (B-stability) and to a weakened version of contractivity.     

Analysis of the dynamics of local error control via a piecewise continuous residual

Positive results are obtained about the effect of local error control in numerical simulations of ordinary differential equations. The results are cast in terms of the local error tolerance. Under theassumption that a local error control strategy is successful, it is shown that a continuous interpolant through the numerical solution exists that satisfies the differential equation to within a small, piecewise continuous, residual. The assumption is known to hold for thematlab ode23 algorithm [10] when applied to a variety of problems. Using the smallness of the residual, it follows that at any finite time the continuous interpolant converges to the true solution as the error tolerance tends to zero. By studying the perturbed differential equation it is also possible to prove discrete analogs of the long-time dynamical properties of the equation—dissipative, contractive and gradient systems are analysed in this way. Supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council under grants GR/H94634 and GR/K80228. Supported by the Office of Naval Research under grant N00014-92-J-1876 and by the National Science Foundation under grant DMS-9201727.     

Stability of some boundary value methods for the solution of initial value problems

The stability properties of three particular boundary value methods (BVMs) for the solution of initial value problems are considered. Our attention is focused on the BVMs based on the midpoint rule, on the Simpson method and on an Adams method of order 3. We investigate their BV-stability regions by considering the scalar test problem and constant stepsize. The study of the conditioning of the coefficient matrix of the discrete problem is extended to the case of variable stepsize and block ODE problems. We also analyse an appropriate choice for the stepsize for stiff problems. Numerical tests are reported to evidentiate the effectiveness of the BVMs and the differences among the BVMs considered.Work supported by the Ministero della Ricerca Scientifica, 40% project, and C.N.R. (contract of research # 92.00535.01).     

Comparing the contractivity properties of semi-implicit methods

Contractivity is a desirable property of numerical integration methods for stiff systems of ordinary differential equations. In this paper, numerical parameters are used to allow a direct and quantitative comparison of the contractivity properties of various methods for non-linear stiff problems. Results are provided for popular Rosenbrock methods and some more recently developed semi-implicit methods.     

Convergence of linear multistep and one-leg methods for stiff nonlinear initial value problems

To prove convergence of numerical methods for stiff initial value problems, stability is needed but also estimates for the local errors which are not affected by stiffness. In this paper global error bounds are derived for one-leg and linear multistep methods applied to classes of arbitrarily stiff, nonlinear initial value problems. It will be shown that under suitable stability assumptions the multistep methods are convergent for stiff problems with the same order of convergence as for nonstiff problems, provided that the stepsize variation is sufficiently regular.     

On the unique solvability of the Runge-Kutta equations

Summary We consider the existence of a unique solution to the systems of equations that arise when we apply a Runge-Kutta method to a stiff nonlinear system of differential equationsU =f(t, U), withf satisfying a one-sided Lipschitz condition with constant . For any given product h, whereh denotes the step size, we present algebraic conditions on the Runge-Kutta matrixA which are necessary and sufficient for unique solvability of the equations. As a second topic, we consider the question whether the solution to the system of equations is stable with respect to perturbations (known as BSI-stability). For this property also, necessary and sufficient algebraic conditions onA are presented.The research of this author has been made possible by a fellowship of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (K.N.A.W.). This work was finished while this author was visiting the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with additional financial support provided by L.N. Trefethen from his U.S. National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator AwardPart of this research was done while this author was visiting the University of Leiden with an Erwin Schrödinger stipend from the Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung and financial support of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (N.W.O.)     

A posteriori estimates of inverse operators for initial value problems in linear ordinary differential equations

We present constructive a posteriori estimates of inverse operators for initial value problems in linear ordinary differential equations (ODEs) on a bounded interval. Here, “constructive” indicates that we can obtain bounds of the operator norm in which all constants are explicitly given or are represented in a numerically computable form. In general, it is difficult to estimate these inverse operators a priori. We, therefore, propose a technique for obtaining a posteriori estimates by using Galerkin approximation of inverse operators. This type of estimation will play an important role in the numerical verification of solutions for initial value problems in nonlinear ODEs as well as for parabolic initial boundary value problems.     

Symmetric Boundary Value Methods for Second Order Initial and Boundary Value Problems

We introduce symmetric Boundary Value Methods for the solution of second order initial and boundary value problems (in particular Hamiltonian problems). We study the conditioning of the methods and link it to the boundary loci of the roots of the associated characteristic polynomial. Some numerical tests are provided to assess their reliability. Dedicated to the memory of Professor Aldo Cossu     

Asymptotic stability analysis of Runge-Kutta methods for nonlinear systems of delay differential equations

Summary. We consider systems of delay differential equations (DDEs) of the form with the initial condition . Recently, Torelli [10] introduced a concept of stability for numerical methods applied to dissipative nonlinear systems of DDEs (in some inner product norm), namely RN-stability, which is the straighforward generalization of the wellknown concept of BN-stability of numerical methods with respect to dissipative systems of ODEs. Dissipativity means that the solutions and corresponding to different initial functions and , respectively, satisfy the inequality , and is guaranteed by suitable conditions on the Lipschitz constants of the right-hand side function . A numerical method is said to be RN-stable if it preserves this contractivity property. After showing that, under slightly more stringent hypotheses on the Lipschitz constants and on the delay function , the solutions and are such that , in this paper we prove that RN-stable continuous Runge-Kutta methods preserve also this asymptotic stability property. Received March 29, 1996 / Revised version received August 12, 1996     

Runge–Kutta methods and Banach algebras

The equations defining both the exact and the computed solution to an initial value problem are related to a single functional equation, which can be regarded as prototypical. The functional equation can be solved in terms of a formal Taylor series, which can also be generated using an iteration process. This leads to the formal Taylor expansions of the solution and approximate solutions to initial value problems. The usual formulation, using rooted trees, can be modified to allow for linear combinations of trees, and this gives an insight into the nature of order conditions for explicit Runge–Kutta methods. A short derivation of the family of fourth order methods with four stages is given.