A collocation solution for Burgers' equation using cubic B-spline finite elements (Q1205059)

The boundary value problem for Burgers' equation is studied in the form \(u_ t+uu_ x=\nu u_{xx}\), \(x\in[a,b]\), \(u(a,t)=\alpha\), \(u(b,t)=\beta\) with constant \(\alpha\) and \(\beta\). To solve it, a finite element algorithm is proposed using collocation with cubic \(B\)-spline spatial elements on a uniform mesh and a Crank-Nicolson type approximation in time. The numerical scheme for the time integration is then investigated into the stability by employing the classical von Neumann theory and is shown to be unconditionally stable. The known analytic solutions in the form of series in modified Bessel functions are used to check the accuracy of the developed method. The numerical performance only requires 5,4 s of CPU time on a VAX 8650, so that the algorithm can be considered as efficient.