On Runge-Kutta methods for parabolic problems with time-dependent coefficients

Abstract

Galerkin fully discrete approximations for parabolic equations with time-dependent coefficients are analyzed. The schemes are based on implicit Runge-Kutta methods, and are coupled with preconditioned iterative methods to approximately solve the resulting systems of linear equations. It is shown that for certain classes of Runge-Kutta methods, the fully discrete equations exhibit parallel features that can be exploited to reduce the final execution time to that of a low-order method.