A second-order TVD implicit-explicit finite volume method for time-dependent convection-reaction equations (Q1025327)

By solving for the cell average as well as the slope of the solution, a second order accurate class of methods is derived for stiff and non-stiff convection-reaction equations in conservative form. The approximate numeric solution is in this setting written \[ u_h(x, t)= \sum_{i=1}^N \chi_i(x)[u_i(t)+ s_i(t)(x-x_i)], \] where \(u_i(t)\) and \(s_i(t)\) are the time-dependent cell averages and slopes, respectively, and \(\chi_i(t)\) is 1 in cell \(i\) and \(0\) otherwise. As the basis functions for \(u_i(t)\) and \(s_i(t)\) are linearly independent, a system of two time-dependent equations is derived for \(u_i\) and \(s_i\) by discretizing the original conservation law. Several theorems on the consistency and stability of the equations are then proved. The discretization in time is performed by applying a second order implicit-explicit time stepping scheme. The two start up solution vectors needed are provided by a two-stage second-order total-variation deminishing (TVD) Runge-Kutta scheme. The reaction term is treated implicitly and the convection one explicitly. By using appropriate slope limiters the derived scheme is shown to be total variation diminishing in the mean (TVDM), or total variation bounded in the mean (TVBM). The derived method is applied to a linear advection equation and Burger's equation in order to demonstrate the second order convergence, both for uniform and semi-uniform meshes. The shock-capturing capabilities are demonstrated by solving the Burger's equation, the Buckley-Leverett equation, and the Riemann convection-reaction problem, the latter one having a stiff reactive source term.