An optimal-order error estimate for a family of characteristic-mixed methods to transient convection-diffusion problems (Q2430088)

The paper deals with the following transient convection-diffusion equation \[ \phi({\mathbf x})\frac{\partial c}{\partial t}+{\mathbf u}({\mathbf x},t)\cdot \nabla c-\nabla \cdot (a({\mathbf x})\nabla c)=f({\mathbf x},t), \quad ({\mathbf x},t)\in \Omega \times (0,T], \] \[ \frac{\partial c}{\partial {\mathbf n}}=0, \quad ({\mathbf x},t)\in \Omega \times (0,T], \] \[ c({\mathbf x},0)=c_0({\mathbf x}), \quad {\mathbf x} \in \Omega, \] where \(\Omega \in \mathbb{R}^{d}\) (\(d=1,2,3\)) is a bounded domain with boundary \(\partial \Omega\), \(c({\mathbf x},t)\) denotes, for example, the concentration of a solute or solvent, \({\mathbf u}({\mathbf x},t)\) represents the velocity of the flow, the diffusive coefficient \(a({\mathbf x})\) has positive lower and upper bounds, \(\phi({\mathbf x})\) is the porosity of the medium, \(c_0({\mathbf x})\) is the initial concentration, and \(f\) is a source term. The authors study a family of characteristic mixed method and prove an optimal-order error estimate. Numerical experiments confirm the theoretical considerations.