A full analysis of a new second order finite volume approximation based on a low-order scheme using general admissible spatial meshes for the unsteady one dimensional heat equation

Abstract

The present work is an extension of our previous works [3–5] which dealt with first order (both in time and space) and second order time accurate (second order in time and first order in space) implicit finite volume schemes for parabolic equations. We aim in this work (and some forthcoming studies) at getting higher order (both in time and space) finite volume approximations for the exact solution of parabolic equations using the class of spatial generic meshes introduced recently in [13]. We focus in the present contribution on the one dimensional heat equation and its implicit finite volume scheme described in [3]. The implicit finite volume scheme approximating the one dimensional heat equation we consider (hereafter referred to as the basic finite volume scheme) yields linear systems to be solved successively. The matrices involved in these linear systems are tridiagonal. The finite volume approximate solution is of order h+k, where h (resp. k) is the mesh size of the spatial (resp. time) discretization. We construct a new finite volume approximation of order (h+k)2 in several discrete norms which allows us to get approximations of order two for the exact solution and its first derivatives. This new high-order approximation can be computed using the same linear systems involved in the basic finite volume scheme while the right hand sides are corrected. The construction of these right hand sides includes the approximations of the second, third, and fourth spatial derivatives of the exact solution. The computation of the approximation of these high-order derivatives can be performed using the same matrices stated above with another two tridiagonal matrices. The manner by which this new high-order approximation is constructed can be repeated to compute successively finite volume approximations of arbitrary order using the same matrices stated above. These high-order approximations can be obtained on any one dimensional admissible finite volume mesh in the sense of [12] without any restrictive condition on the spatial mesh. A full analysis for the stated theoretical results as well as some numerical examples supporting the theory is presented. The results obtained in the present study are based essentially on two facts. The first fact is the use of the results provided in [3] which state the convergence order of the finite volume approximate solution in several norms. The second fact is the comparison between the stated new higher order approximations and suitable auxiliary finite volume approximations.