L 1-error estimates on the immersed interface upwind scheme for linear convection equations with piecewise constant coefficients: A simple proof

Abstract

A linear convection equation with discontinuous coefficients arises in wave propagation through interfaces. An interface condition is needed at the interface to select a unique solution. An upwind scheme that builds this interface condition into its numerical flux is called the immersed interface upwind scheme. An l1-error estimate of such a scheme was first established by Wen et al. (2008). In this paper, we provide a simple analysis on the l1-error estimate. The main idea is to formulate the solution to the underline initial-value problem into the sum of solutions to two convection equations with constant coefficients, which can then be estimated using classical methods for the initial or boundary value problems.