Truncation versus mapping in the spectral approximation to the Korteweg- de Vries equation (Q809579)

The numerical simulation of soliton-like solutions of the Korteweg-de Vries initial value problem is attempted in two ways: one based on the truncation of the domain and the other by using a suitable mapping technique to reduce the real axis to a bounded interval. Spectral Chebyshev collocation methods are used for spatial discretization and finite difference schemes for advancing time. It is noted that the numerical results obtained by the domain truncation method though less accurate are less sensitive to either the initial data and the shape of the solution. The numerical results are also given to bring out the differences between the single domain method and the multidomain method for both truncation and mapping procedures.