A variable step-size selection method for implicit integration schemes

Implicit integration schemes, such as Runge-Kutta methods, are widely used in mathematics and engineering to numerically solve ordinary differential equations. Every integration method requires one to choose a step-size, h, for the integration. If h is too large or too small the efficiency of an implicit scheme is relatively low. As every implicit integration scheme has a global error inherent to the scheme, we choose the total number of computations in order to achieve a prescribed global error as a measure of efficiency of the integration scheme. In this paper, we propose the idea of choosing h by minimizing an efficiency function for general Runge-Kutta integration routines. We show the efficacy of this approach on some standard problems found in the literature.