On the Derivation of Multisymplectic Variational Integrators for Hyperbolic PDEs Using Exponential Functions

Abstract

We investigated the derivation of numerical methods for solving partial differential equations, focusing on those that preserve physical properties of Hamiltonian systems. The formulation of these properties via symplectic forms gives rise to multisymplectic variational schemes. By using analogy with the smooth case, we defined a discrete Lagrangian density through the use of exponential functions, and derived its Hamiltonian by Legendre transform. This led to a discrete Hamiltonian system, the symplectic forms of which obey the conservation laws. The integration schemes derived in this work were tested on hyperbolic-type PDEs, such as the linear wave equations and the non-linear seismic wave equations, and were assessed for their accuracy and the effectiveness by comparing them with those of standard multisymplectic ones. Our error analysis and the convergence plots show significant improvements over the standard schemes.

Keywords

• multisymplectic numerical schemes
• Hamiltonian systems
• symplectic forms
• conservation laws
• seismic wave equation