Performance analysis of error-control B-spline Gaussian collocation software for PDEs

Abstract

B-spline Gaussian collocation software has been widely used in the numerical solution of boundary value ordinary differential equations (BVODEs) and 1D partial differential equations (PDEs) for several decades. Such packages represent the numerical solution in terms of a piecewise polynomial (B-spline) basis with basis coefficients determined through the use of Gaussian collocation. The software package, BACOL, developed over a decade ago, was the first 1D PDE package of this type to provide both temporal and spatial error control. A recently developed package, BACOLI, improves upon the efficiency of BACOL through the use of new types of spatial error estimation and control. The complexity of the interactions among the component numerical algorithms used by these packages (particularly the spatial and temporal error estimation and control algorithms) implies that extensive testing and analysis of the test results is an essential factor in the ongoing development of these packages In this paper, we investigate the performance of BACOL and BACOLI with respect to several important machine independent algorithmic measures, examine the effectiveness of the new spatial error estimation and control strategies, and investigate the influence of the choice of the degree of the B-spline basis on the performance of the solvers. These results will provide new insights into how to improve BACOLI, potentially lead to improvements in Gaussian collocation BVODE solvers, and guide further development of B-spline Gaussian collocation software with error control for 2D PDEs.