A convergent finite-difference method for a nonlinear variational wave equation

Abstract: We establish rigorously convergence of a semi-discrete upwind scheme for the nonlinear variational wave equation

u_{t t} - c (u) (c (u) u_{x})_{x} = 0

with

u |_{t = 0} = u_{0}

and

u_{t} |_{t = 0} = v_{0}

. Introducing Riemann invariants

R = u_{t} + c u_{x}

and

S = u_{t} - c u_{x}

, the variational wave equation is equivalent to

R_{t} - c R_{x} = i l d e c (R^{2} - S^{2})

and

S_{t} + c S_{x} = - i l d e c (R^{2} - S^{2})

with

i l d e c = c^{'} / (4 c)

. An upwind scheme is defined for this system. We assume that the the speed

c

is positive, increasing and both

c

and its derivative are bounded away from zero and that

R |_{t = 0}, S |_{t = 0} i n L^{1} c a p L^{3}

are nonpositive. The numerical scheme is illustrated on several examples.

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