Order Reduction and Its Remedy for Stiff Problems


Abhijit Biswas


Runge-Kutta (RK) methods may demonstrate order reduction when applied to stiff problems. This talk explores the issue of order reduction in Runge-Kutta methods specifically when dealing with linear and semilinear stiff problems. First, I will introduce Diagonally Implicit Runge-Kutta (DIRK) methods with high Weak Stage Order (WSO), capable of mitigating order reduction in linear problems with time-independent operators. Following that, I will discuss explicit RK methods with high WSO, tailored for the initial-boundary value problem with time-dependent boundary conditions in hyperbolic fields. On the theoretical front, I will present order barriers relating the WSO of an RK scheme to its order and the number of stages for fully-implicit RK, DIRK, and ERK schemes, serving as a foundation to construct schemes with high WSO. Lastly, I will conclude by presenting stiff order conditions for semilinear problems, essential to extend beyond the limitations of WSO, which primarily focused on linear problems.