METU, Dept. of Mechanical Eng.

ME 705, Fall 2016, Dr. C. Sert

Handout 1
1D Advection-Diffusion MATLAB Code and Results

% Based on Tryggvason's 2013 Lecture 2

This code will be available
% 1D advection-diffusion solution at the course web site.
You can download and
clc % Clear the command window
close all % Close all previously opened figure windows
play with it.
clear all % Clear all previously generated variables

N = 41; % Number of nodes

nStep = 27; % Number of time levels
L = 2.0; % Domain length
dx = L/(N-1); % Node spacing
dt = 0.06; % Time step
D = 0.05; % Diffusion coefficient
A = 1; % Amplitude of the initial sine wave
k = 1; % Frequency of the initial sine wave
U = 1; % Advection speed

f = zeros(N,1); % Calculated solution at the new time level (level n+1)

fOld = zeros(N,1); % Calculated solution at the previous time level (level n)
exact = zeros(N,1); % Exact solution

time = 0.0;

% Use the given initial condition

for j = 1:N % Node counter
x = dx*(j-1); % x coordinate of node i
fOld(j) = A * sin(2*pi * k * x);
end

fprintf('Watch the progress of the solution in the figure window.\n\n')

fprintf('Press Ctrl-C in the command line window to terminate the code.\n\n')

for n = 1:nStep % Time loop. n is the time level counter

time = time+dt

for j = 1:N
x = dx*(j-1);
exact(j) = exp(-(2*pi*k)^2 * D * time) * ...
A * sin(2*pi*k * (x - U * time)); % Exact solution of the current time level
end

% Calculate the solution of this time level, i.e. f_n+1, for inner points
for j = 2:N-1
f(j) = fOld(j) - U*dt/(2*dx) * (fOld(j+1) - fOld(j-1)) + ...
D*dt/dx^2 * (fOld(j+1) - 2*fOld(j) + fOld(j-1));
end

% Calculate the solution of the last point (Right boundary)

f(N) = fOld(N) - U*dt/(2*dx) * (fOld(2) - fOld(N-1)) + ...
D*dt/dx^2 * (fOld(2) - 2*fOld(N) + fOld(N-1));

f(1) = f(N); % Due to the periodic BC

Continues at the back . . .
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 METU, Dept. of Mechanical Eng.
ME 705, Fall 2016, Dr. C. Sert

hold off;
plot(f, 'linewidth',2); % Plot the calculated solution
grid on;
axis([1 N -1.0, 1.0]);
xlabel('Node number');
ylabel('f');
title('1D Advection-Diffusion Solution with Periodic BCs')

hold on;
plot(exact,'r--','linewidth',2); % Plot exact solution of the previous time step
legend('Numerical','Exact');
pause(0.01);

% Calculate L2 error
Error = dx * sqrt(sum((f - exact).^2))

% Get ready for the new time level before the loop ends
fOld = f;

end % End of the time loop

fprintf('Done. The code is terminated successfuly.\n\n')

Following are the solutions of the 1D adv-diff equation studied in Chapter 1. Following parameters are used for all
the solutions.

𝐿 = 2, 𝐴 = 1, 𝑘 = 1, 𝑈 = 1, 𝐷 = 0.05

Solution 1:

𝑁 = 21 (Δ𝑥 = 0.1), Δ𝑡 = 0.05

Solution at 𝑡 = 0.5 (after 10 time steps) is

plotted.

Clear difference between the solutions.

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 METU, Dept. of Mechanical Eng.
ME 705, Fall 2016, Dr. C. Sert

Solution 2:

𝑁 = 21 (Δ𝑥 = 0.1), 𝚫𝒕 = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟐𝟓

Solution at 𝑡 = 0.5 (after 20 time steps) is

plotted.

As Δ𝑡 is halved solution gets better.

Solution 3:

𝑁 = 21 (Δ𝑥 = 0.1), 𝚫𝒕 = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟏𝟐𝟓

Solution at 𝑡 = 0.5 (after 40 time steps) is

plotted.

Halving Δ𝑡 one more time resulted in a better

solution.

Solution 4:

𝑁 = 21 (Δ𝑥 = 0.1), 𝚫𝒕 = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟎𝟔𝟐𝟓

Solution at 𝑡 = 0.5 (after 80 time steps) is

plotted.

Halving Δ𝑡 one more time resulted in very little

improvement. Looks like that the error is now
space discretization dominated and the 21
node grid can provide only this good.

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 METU, Dept. of Mechanical Eng.
ME 705, Fall 2016, Dr. C. Sert

Solution 5:

𝑵 = 𝟒𝟏 (Δ𝑥 = 0.05), Δ𝑡 = 0.00625

Solution at 𝑡 = 0.5 (after 80 time steps) is

plotted.

This time we doubled the number of nodes

and the solution is very close to the exact
solution.

Solution 6:

𝑁 = 41 (Δ𝑥 = 0.05), 𝚫𝒕 = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟔

Solution at 𝑡 = 1.5 (after 25 time steps) is

plotted.

Here we try to demonstrate an unstable

solution. Oscillations start to appear. The
solution is not good.

And here is the solution 2 time steps later

(𝑡 = 1.62).

Oscillations grow unboundedly and they are

out of control. The solution is unstable and will
blow up if we continue.

For the selected problem parameters (𝑈 and

𝐷) and Δ𝑥 = 0.05, the used Δ𝑡 = 0.06 exceeds
the critical time step.

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 METU, Dept. of Mechanical Eng.
ME 705, Fall 2016, Dr. C. Sert

Handout 1 (cont’d)

Spatial convergence analysis: Δ𝑡 is fixed at 10−4 and the number of points is varied between N=11 and N=641.
Totally 7 runs were made. Result for N=641 is not shown below (Note: Following figure is different than the one in
the printed version distributed in class. I already sent you an email about this change).

Line with
slope 2

Solution 7:

Same parameters as “Solution 6”, but using

BTCS scheme.

“Solution 6” with FTCS was unstable. Now

BTCS is stable. However, the solution is not
accurate. Although BTCS has no Δ𝑡
restriction, we still need to select a low
enough value due to accuracy concerns. For
example decrease Δ𝑡 10 times and run again.

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 METU, Dept. of Mechanical Eng.
ME 705, Fall 2016, Dr. C. Sert

Solution 8:

Same parameters as “Solution 5” are used,

but with the upwind scheme.

Compare it with “Solution 5”.

The solution is excessively diffuse (as if

diffusivity is higher than 0.05). Low order
upwinding has this general problem. It
smoothens the solution excessively.

Solution 9:

Same parameters as “Solution 8” are used,

but with 2nd order upwind scheme.

Compare it with “Solution 5” and “Solution 8”.

Compared to “Solution 8” it is much better.

Compared to “Solution 5” it has a bit more
phase error (as if the wave is not moving at
the correct speed).