Numerical analysis of the Allen-Cahn equation and approximation for mean curvature flows (Q1402150)

A semi-discrete and a fully discrete schemes are proposed and analyzed for the Allen-Cahn equation \(u_t - \delta u + \varepsilon^{-2} f(u) = 0\). It arises from phase transition in material science. Optimal order and quasi-optimal order error bounds are derived under certain constraints on the mesh and time step sizes. The error estimates are used to establish convergence and rate of convergence of the zero level set of the fully discrete solution to the motion and to the generalized motion by mean curvature flow.