The sparse-grid combination technique applied to time-dependent advection problems

In the numerical technique considered in this paper, time-stepping is performed on a set of semi-coarsened space grids. At given time levels the solutions on the different space grids are combined to obtain the asymptotic convergence of a single, fine uniform grid. We present error estimates for the two-dimensional, spatially constant-coefficient model problem and discuss numerical examples. A spatially variable-coefficient problem (Molenkamp–Crowley test) is used to assess the practical merits of the technique. The combination technique is shown to be more efficient than the single-grid approach, yet for the Molenkamp–Crowley test, standard Richardson extrapolation is still more efficient than the combination technique. However, parallelization is expected to significantly improve the combination technique's performance.