A characteristic finite element method with local mesh refinements for the Lamm equation in analytical ultracentrifugation |
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| Authors: | Jiangguo Liu Chaoping Chen |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Mathematics, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523‐1874;2. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523‐1870 |
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| Abstract: | The Lamm equation is a fundamental differential equation in analytical ultracentrifugation, for describing the transport of solutes in an ultracentrifuge cell. In this article, we present a characteristic finite element method with local mesh refinements for solving the Lamm equation. The numerical method is mass‐conservative by design and allows relatively large time steps to be used. Numerical experiments indicate that the numerical solutions are oscillation‐free in the region near the cell bottom, where mass build up and large concentration gradients occur. Positivity of solutions is also well kept. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2009 |
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| Keywords: | analytical ultracentrifugation (AUC) characteristic method convection– diffusion finite element method Lamm equation local mesh refinements |
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