An integral-like numerical approach for solving Burgers' equation

Abstract: An unconventional approach is applied to solve the one-dimensional Burgers' equation. It is based on spline polynomial interpolations and Hopf-Cole transformation. Taylor expansion is used to approximate the exponential term in the transformation, then the analytical solution of the simplified equation is discretized to form a numerical scheme, involving various special functions. The derived scheme is explicit and adaptable for parallel computing. However, some types of boundary condition cannot be specified straightforwardly. Three test cases were employed to examine its accuracy, stability, and parallel scalability. In the aspect of accuracy, the schemes employed cubic and quintic spline interpolation performs equally well, managing to reduce the $\ell_{1}$, $\ell_{2}$ and $\ell_{\infty}$ error norms down to the order of $10^{-4}$. Due to the transformation, their stability condition $\nu \Delta t/\Delta x^2 > 0.02$ includes the viscosity/diffusion coefficient $\nu$. From the condition, the schemes can run at a large time step size $\Delta t$ even when grid spacing $\Delta x$ is small. These characteristics suggest that the method is more suitable for operational use than for research purposes.