8,029 research outputs found
The cutoff method for the numerical computation of nonnegative solutions of parabolic PDEs with application to anisotropic diffusion and lubrication-type equations
The cutoff method, which cuts off the values of a function less than a given
number, is studied for the numerical computation of nonnegative solutions of
parabolic partial differential equations. A convergence analysis is given for a
broad class of finite difference methods combined with cutoff for linear
parabolic equations. Two applications are investigated, linear anisotropic
diffusion problems satisfying the setting of the convergence analysis and
nonlinear lubrication-type equations for which it is unclear if the convergence
analysis applies. The numerical results are shown to be consistent with the
theory and in good agreement with existing results in the literature. The
convergence analysis and applications demonstrate that the cutoff method is an
effective tool for use in the computation of nonnegative solutions. Cutoff can
also be used with other discretization methods such as collocation, finite
volume, finite element, and spectral methods and for the computation of
positive solutions.Comment: 19 pages, 41 figure
An anisotropic mesh adaptation method for the finite element solution of heterogeneous anisotropic diffusion problems
Heterogeneous anisotropic diffusion problems arise in the various areas of
science and engineering including plasma physics, petroleum engineering, and
image processing. Standard numerical methods can produce spurious oscillations
when they are used to solve those problems. A common approach to avoid this
difficulty is to design a proper numerical scheme and/or a proper mesh so that
the numerical solution validates the discrete counterpart (DMP) of the maximum
principle satisfied by the continuous solution. A well known mesh condition for
the DMP satisfaction by the linear finite element solution of isotropic
diffusion problems is the non-obtuse angle condition that requires the dihedral
angles of mesh elements to be non-obtuse. In this paper, a generalization of
the condition, the so-called anisotropic non-obtuse angle condition, is
developed for the finite element solution of heterogeneous anisotropic
diffusion problems. The new condition is essentially the same as the existing
one except that the dihedral angles are now measured in a metric depending on
the diffusion matrix of the underlying problem. Several variants of the new
condition are obtained. Based on one of them, two metric tensors for use in
anisotropic mesh generation are developed to account for DMP satisfaction and
the combination of DMP satisfaction and mesh adaptivity. Numerical examples are
given to demonstrate the features of the linear finite element method for
anisotropic meshes generated with the metric tensors.Comment: 34 page
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