Multi-level Monte Carlo Finite Element method for elliptic PDEs with stochastic coefficients

In Monte Carlo methods quadrupling the sample size halves the error. In simulations of stochastic partial differential equations (SPDEs), the total work is the sample size times the solution cost of an instance of the partial differential equation. A Multi-level Monte Carlo method is introduced which allows, in certain cases, to reduce the overall work to that of the discretization of one instance of the deterministic PDE. The model problem is an elliptic equation with stochastic coefficients. Multi-level Monte Carlo errors and work estimates are given both for the mean of the solutions and for higher moments. The overall complexity of computing mean fields as well as k-point correlations of the random solution is proved to be of log-linear complexity in the number of unknowns of a single Multi-level solve of the deterministic elliptic problem. Numerical examples complete the theoretical analysi

Application of quasi-Monte Carlo methods to PDEs with random coefficients -- an overview and tutorial

This article provides a high-level overview of some recent works on the application of quasi-Monte Carlo (QMC) methods to PDEs with random coefficients. It is based on an in-depth survey of a similar title by the same authors, with an accompanying software package which is also briefly discussed here. Embedded in this article is a step-by-step tutorial of the required analysis for the setting known as the uniform case with first order QMC rules. The aim of this article is to provide an easy entry point for QMC experts wanting to start research in this direction and for PDE analysts and practitioners wanting to tap into contemporary QMC theory and methods.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1606.0661

IGA-based Multi-Index Stochastic Collocation for random PDEs on arbitrary domains

This paper proposes an extension of the Multi-Index Stochastic Collocation (MISC) method for forward uncertainty quantification (UQ) problems in computational domains of shape other than a square or cube, by exploiting isogeometric analysis (IGA) techniques. Introducing IGA solvers to the MISC algorithm is very natural since they are tensor-based PDE solvers, which are precisely what is required by the MISC machinery. Moreover, the combination-technique formulation of MISC allows the straight-forward reuse of existing implementations of IGA solvers. We present numerical results to showcase the effectiveness of the proposed approach.Comment: version 3, version after revisio

Hot new directions for quasi-Monte Carlo research in step with applications

This article provides an overview of some interfaces between the theory of quasi-Monte Carlo (QMC) methods and applications. We summarize three QMC theoretical settings: first order QMC methods in the unit cube $[0,1]^s$ and in $\mathbb{R}^s$, and higher order QMC methods in the unit cube. One important feature is that their error bounds can be independent of the dimension $s$ under appropriate conditions on the function spaces. Another important feature is that good parameters for these QMC methods can be obtained by fast efficient algorithms even when $s$ is large. We outline three different applications and explain how they can tap into the different QMC theory. We also discuss three cost saving strategies that can be combined with QMC in these applications. Many of these recent QMC theory and methods are developed not in isolation, but in close connection with applications

Multi-index Stochastic Collocation convergence rates for random PDEs with parametric regularity

We analyze the recent Multi-index Stochastic Collocation (MISC) method for computing statistics of the solution of a partial differential equation (PDEs) with random data, where the random coefficient is parametrized by means of a countable sequence of terms in a suitable expansion. MISC is a combination technique based on mixed differences of spatial approximations and quadratures over the space of random data and, naturally, the error analysis uses the joint regularity of the solution with respect to both the variables in the physical domain and parametric variables. In MISC, the number of problem solutions performed at each discretization level is not determined by balancing the spatial and stochastic components of the error, but rather by suitably extending the knapsack-problem approach employed in the construction of the quasi-optimal sparse-grids and Multi-index Monte Carlo methods. We use a greedy optimization procedure to select the most effective mixed differences to include in the MISC estimator. We apply our theoretical estimates to a linear elliptic PDEs in which the log-diffusion coefficient is modeled as a random field, with a covariance similar to a Mat\'ern model, whose realizations have spatial regularity determined by a scalar parameter. We conduct a complexity analysis based on a summability argument showing algebraic rates of convergence with respect to the overall computational work. The rate of convergence depends on the smoothness parameter, the physical dimensionality and the efficiency of the linear solver. Numerical experiments show the effectiveness of MISC in this infinite-dimensional setting compared with the Multi-index Monte Carlo method and compare the convergence rate against the rates predicted in our theoretical analysis

Multilevel Methods for Uncertainty Quantification of Elliptic PDEs with Random Anisotropic Diffusion

We consider elliptic diffusion problems with a random anisotropic diffusion coefficient, where, in a notable direction given by a random vector field, the diffusion strength differs from the diffusion strength perpendicular to this notable direction. The Karhunen-Lo\`eve expansion then yields a parametrisation of the random vector field and, therefore, also of the solution of the elliptic diffusion problem. We show that, given regularity of the elliptic diffusion problem, the decay of the Karhunen-Lo\`eve expansion entirely determines the regularity of the solution's dependence on the random parameter, also when considering this higher spatial regularity. This result then implies that multilevel collocation and multilevel quadrature methods may be used to lessen the computation complexity when approximating quantities of interest, like the solution's mean or its second moment, while still yielding the expected rates of convergence. Numerical examples in three spatial dimensions are provided to validate the presented theory

Polynomial Chaos Expansion of random coefficients and the solution of stochastic partial differential equations in the Tensor Train format

We apply the Tensor Train (TT) decomposition to construct the tensor product Polynomial Chaos Expansion (PCE) of a random field, to solve the stochastic elliptic diffusion PDE with the stochastic Galerkin discretization, and to compute some quantities of interest (mean, variance, exceedance probabilities). We assume that the random diffusion coefficient is given as a smooth transformation of a Gaussian random field. In this case, the PCE is delivered by a complicated formula, which lacks an analytic TT representation. To construct its TT approximation numerically, we develop the new block TT cross algorithm, a method that computes the whole TT decomposition from a few evaluations of the PCE formula. The new method is conceptually similar to the adaptive cross approximation in the TT format, but is more efficient when several tensors must be stored in the same TT representation, which is the case for the PCE. Besides, we demonstrate how to assemble the stochastic Galerkin matrix and to compute the solution of the elliptic equation and its post-processing, staying in the TT format. We compare our technique with the traditional sparse polynomial chaos and the Monte Carlo approaches. In the tensor product polynomial chaos, the polynomial degree is bounded for each random variable independently. This provides higher accuracy than the sparse polynomial set or the Monte Carlo method, but the cardinality of the tensor product set grows exponentially with the number of random variables. However, when the PCE coefficients are implicitly approximated in the TT format, the computations with the full tensor product polynomial set become possible. In the numerical experiments, we confirm that the new methodology is competitive in a wide range of parameters, especially where high accuracy and high polynomial degrees are required.Comment: This is a major revision of the manuscript arXiv:1406.2816 with significantly extended numerical experiments. Some unused material is remove