A new high accuracy cubic spline method based on half-step discretization for the system of 1D non-linear wave equations

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to develop a new 3-level implicit numerical method of order 2 in time and 4 in space based on half-step cubic polynomial approximations for the solution of 1D quasi-linear hyperbolic partial differential equations. The method is derived directly from the consistency condition of spline function which is fourth-order accurate. The method is directly applied to hyperbolic equations, irrespective of coordinate system, and fourth-order nonlinear hyperbolic equation, which is main advantage of the work.

Design/methodology/approach

In this method, three grid points for the unknown function w(x,t) and two half-step points for the known variable x in spatial direction are used. The methodology followed in this paper is construction of a cubic spline polynomial and using its continuity properties to obtain fourth-order consistency condition. The proposed method, when applied to a linear equation is shown to be unconditionally stable. The technique is extended to solve system of quasi-linear hyperbolic equations. To assess the validity and accuracy, the method is applied to solve several benchmark problems, and numerical results are provided to demonstrate the usefulness of the method.

Findings

The paper provides a fourth-order numerical scheme obtained directly from fourth-order consistency condition. In earlier methods, consistency conditions were only second-order accurate. This brings an edge over other past methods. In addition, the method is directly applicable to physical problems involving singular coefficients. Therefore, no modification in the method is required at singular points. This saves CPU time, as well as computational costs.

Research limitations/implications

There are no limitations. Obtaining a fourth-order method directly from consistency condition is a new work. In addition, being an implicit method, this method is unconditionally stable for a linear test equation.

Practical implications

Physical problems with singular and nonsingular coefficients are directly solved by this method.

Originality/value

The paper develops a new fourth-order implicit method which is original and has substantial value because many benchmark problems of physical significance are solved in this method.

Citation

Mohanty, R.K. and Khurana, G. (2019), "A new high accuracy cubic spline method based on half-step discretization for the system of 1D non-linear wave equations", Engineering Computations, Vol. 36 No. 3, pp. 930-957. https://doi.org/10.1108/EC-04-2018-0194