Fourth-Order Spatial and Second-Order Temporal Accurate Compact Scheme for Cahn–Hilliard Equation

Abstract

Abstract We propose a fourth-order spatial and second-order temporal accurate and unconditionally stable compact finite-difference scheme for the Cahn–Hilliard equation. The proposed scheme has a higher-order accuracy in space than conventional central difference schemes even though both methods use a three-point stencil. Its compactness may be useful when applying the scheme to numerical implementation. In a temporal discretization, the secant-type algorithm, which is known as the second-order accurate scheme, is applied. Furthermore, the unique solvability regardless of the temporal and spatial step size, unconditionally gradient stability, and discrete mass conservation are proven. It guarantees that large temporal and spatial step sizes could be used with the high-order accuracy and the original properties of the CH equation. Then, numerical results are presented to confirm the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed scheme. The efficiency of the proposed scheme is better than other low order accurate stable schemes.