Variational splines for the numerical solution of singular differential equations

The numerical parametrization method (PM), originally created for optimal control problems, is specificated for classical calculus of variation problems that arise in connection with singular implicit (IDEs) and differential-algebraic equations (DAEs). The PM for IDEs is based on representation of the required solution as a spline with moving knots and on minimization of the discrepancy functional with respect to the spline parameters. Such splines are named variational splines. For DAEs only finite entering functions can be represented by splines, and the functional under minimization is the discrepancy of the algebraic subsystem. The first and the second derivatives of the functionals are calculated in two ways – for DAEs with the help of adjoint variables, and for IDE directly. The PM does not use the notion of differentiation index, and it is applicable to any singular equation having a solution. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)