Analysis and simulation of the (2 + 1)-dimensional Fisher’s reaction-diffusion equation with higher order finite element method

Abstract

In this article, a finite element analysis of Fisher’s reaction-diffusion equation is performed, by using quadratic shape elements. The higher-order elements in the finite element method (FEM) are known to yield better results in the approximation of solutions. However, such elements are less explored in the literature. Therefore, quadratic shape functions are taken into consideration for the finite element analysis of Fisher’s reaction-diffusion equation. A priori error estimates for the semi-discrete solution are derived by applying the Galerkin approximation. For the fully discrete solution, a priori error estimates are derived using the Crank-Nicolson method and the predictor-corrector scheme. Also, the stability of the time-discrete scheme is analyzed by the energy technique. Third-order convergence for space discretization in L 2 ( Ω ) norm and second-order convergence in H 1 ( Ω ) norm are observed. Furthermore, second-order convergence for time discretization is also found. Finally, we validate our theoretical results by considering a variety of numerical examples in one and two-dimensional spaces, which also illustrate the reliability of the developed finite element algorithm. Through comparison tables, 3D plots, and convergence plots, the results of the current study are compared with the results from the existing literature.