Using Richardson's method to construct high-order accurate adaptive grids

An algorithm is proposed to construct a sequence of evolutionary adaptive grids, each consisting of segments of uniform grids compatible with the Richardson extrapolation procedure. The necessary numerical accuracy is achieved by using Richardson's extrapolation method to increase the accuracy of the difference solution and by controlling the nonhomogeneity parameter on passing from one segment to the next. The numerical model used in the article is the diffusion-convection equation, whose solution contains large gradients. Numerical calculations show that the algorithm attains the prespecified accuracy on a nonuniform difference grid. Numerical examples support the universality of the proposed algorithm. High accuracy results can be obtained without changing the structure of the difference schemes approximating the original problem; only the grid spacing has to be changed. © 1999 Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.