High order finite difference methods for the wave equation with non-conforming grid interfaces

TL;DR

This paper develops high order finite difference methods for the wave equation with non-conforming grid interfaces, focusing on stability, accuracy, and efficiency of interface treatments using projection and interpolation operators.

Contribution

It introduces an extra stability constraint for second order wave equations and compares the stability of projection versus interpolation operators.

Findings

Projection operators exhibit better stability than interpolation operators.

An additional constraint is necessary for stability in second order wave equations.

Numerical experiments confirm the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed methods.

Abstract

We use high order finite difference methods to solve the wave equation in the second order form. The spatial discretization is performed by finite difference operators satisfying a summation-by-parts property. The focus of this work is on the numerical treatment of non-conforming grid interfaces. The interface conditions are imposed weakly by the simultaneous approximation term technique in combination with interface operators, which move the discrete solutions between the grids on the interface. In particular, we consider interpolation operators and projection operators. A norm-compatibility condition, which leads to stability for first order hyperbolic systems, does not suffice for second order wave equations. An extra constraint on the interface operators must be satisfied to derive an energy estimate for stability. We carry out eigenvalue analyses to investigate the additional constraint and how it is related to stability, and find that the projection operators have better stability properties than the interpolation operators. In addition, a truncation error analysis is performed to study the convergence property of the numerical schemes. In the numerical experiments, the stability and accuracy properties of the numerical schemes are further explored, and the practical usefulness of non-conforming grid interfaces is presented and discussed in two efficiency studies.