Very High-Order A-stable Stiffly Accurate Diagonally Implicit Runge-Kutta Methods with Error Estimators

Abstract: A numerical search approach is used to design high-order diagonally implicit Runge-Kutta (DIRK) schemes equipped with embedded error estimators, some of which have identical diagonal elements (SDIRK) and explicit first stage (ESDIRK). In each of these classes, we present new A-stable schemes of order six (the highest order of previously known A-stable DIRK-type schemes) up to order eight. For each order, we include one scheme that is only A-stable as well as schemes that are L-stable, stiffly accurate, and/or have stage order two. The latter types require more stages, but give better convergence rates for differential-algebraic equations (DAEs), and those which have stage order two give better accuracy for moderately stiff problems. The development of the eighth-order schemes requires, in addition to imposing A-stability, finding highly accurate numerical solutions for a system of 200 equations in over 100 variables, which is accomplished via a combination of global and local optimization strategies. The accuracy, stability, and adaptive stepsize control of the schemes are demonstrated on diverse problems.