Publications
Sort:
Open Access Research Article Issue
Optimal error estimates and superconvergence analysis of an ultra-weak discontinuous Galerkin method for nonlinear second-order initial-value problems for ODEs
Electronic Research Archive 2025, 33(11): 6971-6997
Published: 18 November 2025
Abstract PDF (694.4 KB) Collect
Downloads:3

The primary focus of this study was to analyze the convergence and superconvergence properties of an ultra-weak discontinuous Galerkin (UWDG) method for nonlinear second-order initial-value problems (IVPs) for ordinary differential equations (ODEs) of the form u + ( g ( x , u ) ) = f ( x , u ) , x [ a , b ] , subject to u ( a ) = α and u ( a ) = β. By carefully choosing suitable numerical fluxes and employing a special projection, we established optimal error estimates in the L 2 -norm. The order of convergence was proved to be p + 1, when utilizing piecewise polynomials of degree at most p. We further proved that the UWDG solution was superconvergent of order p + 2 for p 2 toward a special projection of the exact solution. Additionally, we proved that the p-degree UWDG solution and its derivative were O ( h 2 p ) superconvergent at the end of each step. Our proofs were valid for arbitrary uniform or non-uniform partitions of the domain using piecewise polynomials with degree p 2. Finally, several numerical examples were provided to validate all theoretical results. It is worth noting that the proposed UWDG method offers a significant advantage for second-order differential equations, as it can be applied directly without introducing auxiliary variables or reformulating the equation as a first-order system. This advantage reduces memory and computational costs.

Total 1