DIMEX Runge-Kutta finite volume methods for multidimensional hyperbolic systems

We propose a class of finite volume methods for the discretization of time-dependent multidimensional hyperbolic systems in divergence form on unstructured grids. We discretize the divergence of the flux function by a cell-centered finite volume method whose spatial accuracy is provided by including into the scheme non-oscillatory piecewise polynomial reconstructions. We assume that the numerical flux function can be decomposed in a convective term and a non-convective term. The convective term, which may be source of numerical stiffness in high-speed flow regions, is treated implicitly, while the non-convective term is always discretized explicitly. To this purpose, we use the diagonally implicit-explicit Runge-Kutta (DIMEX-RK) time-marching formulation. We analyze the structural properties of the matrix operators that result from coupling finite volumes and DIMEX-RK time-stepping schemes by using M-matrix theory. Finally, we show the behavior of these methods by some numerical examples. (c) 2007 IMACS. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.