Oscillatory Behavior of Finite Difference Methods for the Solution of the Two Dimensional Transient Heat (Diffusion) Equation.

Abstract

The two dimensional transient heat (diffusion) equation with Dirichlet boundary conditions was solved using the Dufort-Frankel, Saul'ev, and, Exponential (Power-law) finite fidderence schemes. All methods were investigated for oscillatory behavior and comparisons of accuracy made. To predict the time step at which oscillatory behavior would occur, the coefficient, matrix, and probabilistic methods of stability analysis were utilized. At time steps greater than the square of the mesh divided by the thermal diffusivity, oscillatory solutions were apparent in both the Dufort-Frankel and Saul'ev schems. The exponential method, as predicted, did not oscillate for any size time step. Although the exponential scheme was the most accurate at large time steps, the solution still contained enough error to be unusable in many engineering applications. At small time steps, all methods were more accurate than the fully implicit formulation. The exponential method was found to be the slowest computationally. The Saul'ev scheme proved to be the fastest while still achieving the required degree of accuracy.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 1986
Accession Number
ADA172785

Entities

People

  • Joseph E. Cuthrell

Organizations

  • Air Force Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Boundary Value Problems
  • Coefficients
  • Computations
  • Difference Equations
  • Differential Equations
  • Diffusion
  • Eigenvalues
  • Engineering
  • Equations
  • Heat Transfer
  • Mathematics
  • New York
  • Numerical Analysis
  • Partial Differential Equations
  • Thermal Diffusivity
  • Two Dimensional

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  • Finite Element Method (FEM) for solving Partial Differential Equations (PDEs)