A finite volume scheme for boundary-driven convection-diffusion equations with relative entropy structure (Q1679207)

A finite volume scheme is proposed for a class of nonlinear parabolic equations endowed with nonhomogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions which admit relative entropy functional. The well-posedness of the problem is established and stability, convergence and the exponential return to equilibrium are proved. The algorithm is constructed from a consistent discretization of the steady state that preserves steady state and natural Lyapunov functional which provide a satisfying large time behavior. A spatial accuracy of the scheme for large time behavior is established by a numerical experiment. Some kinetic models such as Vlasov-Fokker-Planck equation, the full dumb-bell model for polymers, and diffusion in porous media illustrate the accuracy and the efficiency of the scheme. Several lemmas and theorems are stated and proved. The proposed scheme has wider applications in the solution of nonlinear parabolic equations