A comparative study of the harmonic balance method and the orthogonal collocation method on stiff nonlinear systems

International audienceThe high-order purely frequency-based harmonic balance method (HBM) presented by Cochelin and Vergez (2009) [1] and extended by Karkar et al. (2013) [2] now allows to follow the periodic solutions of regularized non-smooth systems (stiff systems). This paper compares its convergence property to a reference method in applied mathematics: orthogonal collocation with piecewise polynomials. A first test is conducted on a nonlinear smooth 2 degree-of-freedom spring mass system, showing better convergence of the HBM. The second test is conducted on a one degree-of-freedom vibro-impact system with a very stiff regularization of the impact law. The HBM continuation of the nonlinear mode was found to be very robust, even with a very large number of harmonics. Surprisingly, the HBM was found to have a better convergence than the collocation method for this vibro-impact system

Numerical Solution of ODEs and the Columbus' Egg: Three Simple Ideas for Three Difficult Problems

On computers, discrete problems are solved instead of continuous ones. One must be sure that the solutions of the former problems, obtained in real time (i.e., when the stepsize h is not infinitesimal) are good approximations of the solutions of the latter ones. However, since the discrete world is much richer than the continuous one (the latter being a limit case of the former), the classical definitions and techniques, devised to analyze the behaviors of continuous problems, are often insufficient to handle the discrete case, and new specific tools are needed. Often, the insistence in following a path already traced in the continuous setting, has caused waste of time and efforts, whereas new specific tools have solved the problems both more easily and elegantly. In this paper we survey three of the main difficulties encountered in the numerical solutions of ODEs, along with the novel solutions proposed.Comment: 25 pages, 4 figures (typos fixed

The Lack of Continuity and the Role of Infinite and Infinitesimal in Numerical Methods for ODEs: the Case of Symplecticity

When numerically integrating canonical Hamiltonian systems, the long-term conservation of some of its invariants, among which the Hamiltonian function itself, assumes a central role. The classical approach to this problem has led to the definition of symplectic methods, among which we mention Gauss-Legendre collocation formulae. Indeed, in the continuous setting, energy conservation is derived from symplecticity via an infinite number of infinitesimal contact transformations. However, this infinite process cannot be directly transferred to the discrete setting. By following a different approach, in this paper we describe a sequence of methods, sharing the same essential spectrum (and, then, the same essential properties), which are energy preserving starting from a certain element of the sequence on, i.e., after a finite number of steps.Comment: 15 page

Discontinuous Galerkin methods for general-relativistic hydrodynamics: formulation and application to spherically symmetric spacetimes

We have developed the formalism necessary to employ the discontinuous-Galerkin approach in general-relativistic hydrodynamics. The formalism is firstly presented in a general 4-dimensional setting and then specialized to the case of spherical symmetry within a 3+1 splitting of spacetime. As a direct application, we have constructed a one-dimensional code, EDGES, which has been used to asses the viability of these methods via a series of tests involving highly relativistic flows in strong gravity. Our results show that discontinuous Galerkin methods are able not only to handle strong relativistic shock waves but, at the same time, to attain very high orders of accuracy and exponential convergence rates in smooth regions of the flow. Given these promising prospects and their affinity with a pseudospectral solution of the Einstein equations, discontinuous Galerkin methods could represent a new paradigm for the accurate numerical modelling in relativistic astrophysics.Comment: 24 pages, 19 figures. Small changes; matches version to appear in PR