Partitioned adaptive Runge-Kutta methods for the solution of nonstiff and stiff systems

Summary For the numerical solution of initial value problems of ordinary differential equations partitioned adaptive Runge-Kutta methods are studied. These methods consist of an adaptive Runge-Kutta methods for the treatment of a stiff system and a corresponding explicit Runge-Kutta method for a nonstiff system. First we modify the theory of Butcher series for partitioned adaptive Runge-Kutta methods. We show that for any explicit Runge-Kutta method there exists a translation invariant partitoned adaptive Runge-Kutta method of the same order. Secondly we derive a special translaton invariant partitioned adaptive Runge-Kutta method of order 3. An automatic stiffness detection and a stepsize control basing on Richardson-extrapolation are performed. Extensive tests and comparisons with the partitioned RKF4RW-algorithm from Rentrop [16] and the partitioned algorithm LSODA from Hindmarsh [9] and Petzold [15] show that the partitoned adaptive Runge-Kutta algorithm works reliable and gives good numericals results. Furthermore these tests show that the automatic stiffness detection in this algorithm is effective.