A finite volume scheme for convection-diffusion equations with nonlinear diffusion derived from the Scharfetter-Gummel scheme (Q444064)

The author considers the following convection-diffusion equation with nonlinear diffusion \[ \partial_t u- \text{div}(\nabla r(u)- qu)= 0\quad\text{for }(x,t)\in \Omega\times (0,T),\;\Omega\subset\mathbb{R}^d,\;1\leq d\leq 3, \] with an initial condition \(u(x,0)= u_0(x)\), \(x\in\Omega\) and Dirichlet-Neumann boundary conditions under some assumptions on \(u\), \(u_0\), \(q\), \(r\). A finite volume method is based on the integral form of a problem instead of the differential formulation, so a weak solution to the problem is needed. The finite volume scheme for the considered problem is constructed, in which the numerical flux is an extension of the Scharfetter-Gummel one. The well-posedness in the nondegenerate case (up to a subsequence) of the solution\(u_\delta\) (\(\delta= \max\{\Delta x,\Delta t\}\)) to a weak solution of the original problem is shown, when \(\delta\to 0\). The scheme is compared with existing ones and tested numerically for the drift-diffusion system for semiconductors and the porous media equation.