An optimally efficient technique for the solution of systems of nonlinear parabolic partial differential equations

This paper describes a new software tool that has been developed for the efficient solution of systems of linear and nonlinear partial differential equations (PDEs) of parabolic type. Specifically, the software is designed to provide optimal computational performance for multiscale problems, which r...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Yang, Feng-Wei, Goodyer, Christopher E., Hubbard, Matthew E., Jimack, Peter K.
Format: Article
Published: Elsevier 2017
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/40798/
_version_ 1848796135991279616
author Yang, Feng-Wei
Goodyer, Christopher E.
Hubbard, Matthew E.
Jimack, Peter K.
author_facet Yang, Feng-Wei
Goodyer, Christopher E.
Hubbard, Matthew E.
Jimack, Peter K.
author_sort Yang, Feng-Wei
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description This paper describes a new software tool that has been developed for the efficient solution of systems of linear and nonlinear partial differential equations (PDEs) of parabolic type. Specifically, the software is designed to provide optimal computational performance for multiscale problems, which require highly stable, implicit, time-stepping schemes combined with a parallel implementation of adaptivity in both space and time. By combining these implicit, adaptive discretizations with an optimally efficient nonlinear multigrid solver it is possible to obtain computational solutions to a very high resolution with relatively modest computational resources. The first half of the paper describes the numerical methods that lie behind the software, along with details of their implementation, whilst the second half of the paper illustrates the flexibility and robustness of the tool by applying it to two very different example problems. These represent models of a thin film flow of a spreading viscous droplet and a multi-phase-field model of tumour growth. We conclude with a discussion of the challenges of obtaining highly scalable parallel performance for a software tool that combines both local mesh adaptivity, requiring efficient dynamic load-balancing, and a multigrid solver, requiring careful implementation of coarse grid operations and inter-grid transfer operations in parallel.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T19:43:11Z
format Article
id nottingham-40798
institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T19:43:11Z
publishDate 2017
publisher Elsevier
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling nottingham-407982020-05-04T18:32:04Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/40798/ An optimally efficient technique for the solution of systems of nonlinear parabolic partial differential equations Yang, Feng-Wei Goodyer, Christopher E. Hubbard, Matthew E. Jimack, Peter K. This paper describes a new software tool that has been developed for the efficient solution of systems of linear and nonlinear partial differential equations (PDEs) of parabolic type. Specifically, the software is designed to provide optimal computational performance for multiscale problems, which require highly stable, implicit, time-stepping schemes combined with a parallel implementation of adaptivity in both space and time. By combining these implicit, adaptive discretizations with an optimally efficient nonlinear multigrid solver it is possible to obtain computational solutions to a very high resolution with relatively modest computational resources. The first half of the paper describes the numerical methods that lie behind the software, along with details of their implementation, whilst the second half of the paper illustrates the flexibility and robustness of the tool by applying it to two very different example problems. These represent models of a thin film flow of a spreading viscous droplet and a multi-phase-field model of tumour growth. We conclude with a discussion of the challenges of obtaining highly scalable parallel performance for a software tool that combines both local mesh adaptivity, requiring efficient dynamic load-balancing, and a multigrid solver, requiring careful implementation of coarse grid operations and inter-grid transfer operations in parallel. Elsevier 2017-01-02 Article PeerReviewed Yang, Feng-Wei, Goodyer, Christopher E., Hubbard, Matthew E. and Jimack, Peter K. (2017) An optimally efficient technique for the solution of systems of nonlinear parabolic partial differential equations. Advances in Engineering Software, 103 . pp. 65-84. ISSN 0965-9978 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965997816301259 doi:10.1016/j.advengsoft.2016.06.003 doi:10.1016/j.advengsoft.2016.06.003
spellingShingle Yang, Feng-Wei
Goodyer, Christopher E.
Hubbard, Matthew E.
Jimack, Peter K.
An optimally efficient technique for the solution of systems of nonlinear parabolic partial differential equations
title An optimally efficient technique for the solution of systems of nonlinear parabolic partial differential equations
title_full An optimally efficient technique for the solution of systems of nonlinear parabolic partial differential equations
title_fullStr An optimally efficient technique for the solution of systems of nonlinear parabolic partial differential equations
title_full_unstemmed An optimally efficient technique for the solution of systems of nonlinear parabolic partial differential equations
title_short An optimally efficient technique for the solution of systems of nonlinear parabolic partial differential equations
title_sort optimally efficient technique for the solution of systems of nonlinear parabolic partial differential equations
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/40798/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/40798/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/40798/