On the numerical integration of orthogonal flows with Runge-Kutta methods (Q1971821)

The paper deals with the numerical solution of an initial value problem for matrix differential equations of special form (that preserves orthogonality of the flows) by some implicit Runge-Kutta methods based on Gauss-Legendre quadrature (named GLRK methods). The stability and convergence properties of linearly implicit orthogonal methods are proved. Orthogonal methods of orders 3 and 4 based on two-stage GLRK methods combined with suitable explicit Runge-Kutta schemes are presented. Numerical experiments are performed.