A high-order convergence analysis for semi-Lagrangian scheme of the Burgers’ equation

In this article, we provide a comprehensive convergence and stability analysis of a semi-Lagrangian scheme for solving nonlinear Burgers’ equations with a high-order spatial discretization. The analysis is for the iteration-free semi-Lagrangian scheme comprising the second-order backward finite difference formula (BDF2) for total derivative and the fourth-order central finite difference for diffusion term along the trajectory. The main highlight of the study is to thoroughly analyze the order of convergence of the discrete ℓ₂-norm error O(h² + △x⁴ + △x^p+1/h) by managing the relationship between the local truncation errors from each discretization procedure and the interpolation properties with a symmetric high-order discretization of the diffusion term. Furthermore, stability is established by the uniform boundedness of the numerical solution using the discrete Grönwall’s Lemma. We provide numerical examples to support the validity of the theoretical convergence and stability analysis for the propounded backward semi-Lagrangian scheme.