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Zachary Stevens

Publications and source records attributed to Zachary Stevens.

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Error estimation for the time to a threshold value in evolutionary partial differential equations

We develop an \textit{a posteriori} error analysis for a numerical estimate of the time at which a functional of the solution to a partial differential equation (PDE) first achieves a threshold value on a given time interval. This quantity of interest (QoI) differs from classical QoIs which are modeled as bounded linear (or nonlinear) functionals {of the solution}. Taylor's theorem and an adjoint-based \textit{a posteriori} analysis is used to derive computable and accurate error estimates in the case of semi-linear parabolic and hyperbolic PDEs. The accuracy of the error estimates is demonstrated through numerical solutions of the one-dimensional heat equation and linearized shallow water equations (SWE), representing parabolic and hyperbolic cases, respectively.

math.NA

Adjoint-based Adaptive Multi-Level Monte Carlo for Differential Equations

We present a multi-level Monte Carlo (MLMC) algorithm with adaptively refined meshes and accurately computed stopping-criteria utilizing adjoint-based a posteriori error analysis for differential equations. This is in contrast to classical MLMC algorithms that use either a hierarchy of uniform meshes or adaptively refined meshes based on Richardson extrapolation, and employ a stopping criteria that relies on assumptions on the convergence rate of the MLMC levels. This work develops two adaptive refinement strategies for the MLMC algorithm. These strategies are based on a decomposition of an error estimate of the MLMC bias and utilize variational analysis, adjoint problems and computable residuals.

math.NA

Error estimation and uncertainty quantification for first time to a threshold value

Classical a posteriori error analysis for differential equations quantifies the error in a Quantity of Interest (QoI) which is represented as a bounded linear functional of the solution. In this work we consider a posteriori error estimates of a quantity of interest that cannot be represented in this fashion, namely the time at which a threshold is crossed for the first time. We derive two representations for such errors and use an adjoint-based a posteriori approach to estimate unknown terms that appear in our representation. The first representation is based on linearizations using Taylor's Theorem. The second representation is obtained by implementing standard root-finding techniques. We provide several examples which demonstrate the accuracy of the methods. We then embed these error estimates within a framework to provide error bounds on a cumulative distribution function when parameters of the differential equations are uncertain.

math.NA