An Accurate and Robust Numerical Scheme for Transport Equations

En esta tesis se presenta una nueva técnica de discretización para ecuaciones de transporte en problemas de convección-difusión para el rango completo de números de Péclet. La discretización emplea el flujo exacto de una ecuación de transporte unidimensional en estado estacionario para deducir una ecuación discreta de tres puntos en problemas unidimensionales y cinco puntos en problemas bidimensionales. Con "flujo exacto" se entiende que se puede obtener la solución exacta en función de integrales de algunos parámetros del fluido y flujo, incluso si estos parámetros son vari- ables en un volumen de control. Las cuadraturas de alto orden se utilizan para lograr resultados numéricos cercanos a la precisión de la máquina, incluso con mallas bastas.Como la discretización es esencialmente unidimensional, no está garantizada una solución con precisión de máquina para problemas multidimensionales, incluso en los casos en que las integrales a lo largo de cada coordenada cartesiana tienen una primitiva. En este sentido, la contribución principal de esta tesis consiste en una forma simple y elegante de obtener soluciones en problemas multidimensionales sin dejar de utilizar la formulación unidimensional. Además, si el problema es tal que la solución tiene precisión de máquina en el problema unidimensional a lo largo de las líneas coordenadas, también la tendrá para el dominio multidimensional.In this thesis, we present a novel discretization technique for transport equations in convection-diffusion problems across the whole range of Péclet numbers. The discretization employs the exact flux of a steady-state one-dimensional transport equation to derive a discrete equation with a three-point stencil in one-dimensional problems and a five-point stencil in two-dimensional ones. With "exact flux" it is meant that the exact solution can be obtained as a function of integrals of some fluid and flow parameters, even if these parameters are variable across a control volume. High-order quadratures are used to achieve numerical results close to machine- accuracy even with coarse grids. As the discretization is essentially one-dimensional, getting the machine- accurate solution of multidimensional problems is not guaranteed even in cases where the integrals along each Cartesian coordinate have a primitive. In this regard, the main contribution of this thesis consists in a simple and elegant way of getting solutions in multidimensional problems while still using the one-dimensional formulation. Moreover, if the problem is such that the solution is machine-accurate in the one-dimensional problem along coordinate lines, it will also be for the multidimensional domain.<br /

Accurate macroscale modelling of spatial dynamics in multiple dimensions

Developments in dynamical systems theory provides new support for the macroscale modelling of pdes and other microscale systems such as Lattice Boltzmann, Monte Carlo or Molecular Dynamics simulators. By systematically resolving subgrid microscale dynamics the dynamical systems approach constructs accurate closures of macroscale discretisations of the microscale system. Here we specifically explore reaction-diffusion problems in two spatial dimensions as a prototype of generic systems in multiple dimensions. Our approach unifies into one the modelling of systems by a type of finite elements, and the `equation free' macroscale modelling of microscale simulators efficiently executing only on small patches of the spatial domain. Centre manifold theory ensures that a closed model exist on the macroscale grid, is emergent, and is systematically approximated. Dividing space either into overlapping finite elements or into spatially separated small patches, the specially crafted inter-element/patch coupling also ensures that the constructed discretisations are consistent with the microscale system/PDE to as high an order as desired. Computer algebra handles the considerable algebraic details as seen in the specific application to the Ginzburg--Landau PDE. However, higher order models in multiple dimensions require a mixed numerical and algebraic approach that is also developed. The modelling here may be straightforwardly adapted to a wide class of reaction-diffusion PDEs and lattice equations in multiple space dimensions. When applied to patches of microscopic simulations our coupling conditions promise efficient macroscale simulation.Comment: some figures with 3D interaction when viewed in Acrobat Reader. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:0904.085

Construction and analysis of efficient numerical methods to solve mathematical models of TB and HIV co-infection

Philosophiae Doctor - PhDThe global impact of the converging dual epidemics of tuberculosis (TB) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is one of the major public health challenges of our time, because in many countries, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) are among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality. It is found that infection with HIV increases the risk of reactivating latent TB infection, and HIV-infected individuals who acquire new TB infections have high rates of disease progression. Research has shown that these two diseases are enormous public health burden, and unfortunately, not much has been done in terms of modeling the dynamics of HIV-TB co-infection at a population level. In this thesis, we study these models and design and analyze robust numerical methods to solve them. To proceed in this direction, first we study the sub-models and then the full model. The first sub-model describes the transmission dynamics of HIV that accounts for behavior change. The impact of HIV educational campaigns is also studied. Further, we explore the effects of behavior change and different responses of individuals to educational campaigns in a situation where individuals may not react immediately to these campaigns. This is done by considering a distributed time delay in the HIV sub-model. This leads to Hopf bifurcations around the endemic equilibria of the model. These bifurcations correspond to the existence of periodic solutions that oscillate around the equilibria at given thresholds. Further, we show how the delay can result in more HIV infections causing more increase in the HIV prevalence. Part of this study is then extended to study a co-infection model of HIV-TB. A thorough bifurcation analysis is carried out for this model. Robust numerical methods are then designed and analyzed for these models. Comparative numerical results are also provided for each model.South Afric

Centre Manifold Theory for some continuous and Discrete Epidemiological models

In mathematical epidemiology, the threshold theory introduced by W.O. Kermack and A.G. McKendrick (1927) can be expressed in terms of the basic reproduction number R0. This is defined as the average number of secondary infections that occur when one infective is introduced into a susceptible host population. In this setting and for many diseases, the prediction of the likelihood of persistence or dying out of the disease within the population reads as follows: the disease-free equilibrium is locally asymptotically stable (LAS) when R0 1 and at least one endemic equilibrium (EE) which is LAS is born in this case. In other words, at R0 = 1, a forward bifurcation occurs. However, some diseases undergo the backward bifurcation phenomenon whereby, for R0 < 1, the LAS disease-free equilibrium coexists with a small positive unstable EE and a large positive LAS EE. In this thesis, we study theoretically, numerically, and computationally the existence of the backward bifurcation phenomenon for dynamical systems, with emphasis on a “simple” SIS model with vaccination and a “complex” malaria model. We re-centre the reduction theorem in C. Castillo-Chavez and B. Song (2004) and highlight its advantage over the legendary power series approximations in the use of the Centre Manifold Theory (CMT). We propose and prove a Centre Manifold-based theorem for the existence of a backward bifurcation for discrete dynamical systems. We construct nonstandard finite difference (NSFD) schemes and prove that they preserve the backward bifurcation property of the continuous models. We make the results more specific for the SIS and malaria models for which we also provide numerical simulations that support the theory. In particular we prove for the malaria model a conjecture by Chitnis et al. (2006) for the existence of the backward bifurcation.Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2019.Mathematics and Applied MathematicsPhDUnrestricte