This web page serves as the class syllabus and source of further information.

Instructor: Dr. Son-Young Yi

Office: Bell Hall 218

Email:syi@utep.edu

Phone: 915-747-6864

Time and Place: MW 15:00 ~16:20 Bell Hall 130 A

Textbook: Computational Partial Differential Equations Using MATLAB® , by Jichun Li and Yi-Tung Chen

Office hours: MW 13:00 ~ 14:00 or by appointments

Syllabus: For a printable syllabus, click here.

Other references:

• "Finite Difference Methods for Ordinary and Partial Differential Equations-Steady State and Time Dependent Problems", SIAM 2007, by Randall J. LeVeque.

• "Partial Differential Equations with Numerical Methods" by Stig Larsson and Vidar Thomee

Course description: Many important problems arising in science or engineering are described by partial differential equations. In most cases, these PDEs cannot be solved analytically and one must resort to approximating the solution numerically. In this course, we will focus on the most important and widely used numerical methods, namely finite difference methods and finite element methods. We will discuss the issues such as convergence, stability and error analysis. We will also discuss how to implement and test the methods.

Homework/Lab: Homework/lab assignments will be collected throuout the semester. Homework will be posted on this website and announced in class as well. No late homework/lab report will be accepted. Computer programming must be done in MATLAB.

• HW1: Due on Wed., March 2.

  M-files needed for HW1: example1.m, fdcoeffF.m, fdstencil.m, bvp_2.m, bvp_4.m, xgrid.m, error_loglog.m, ,error_table.m

• Lab1: Report due on Monday, March 21.

Download the following M-files: twodimwavedirbc.m, thomas.m, cranknicolson.m

• FEM programming demo: M-files from the text book

Final Project: In addition to the homework/lab assignments, students will work on a final project on a topic of their own choice, preferably related to their research.

• Project proposal: Submit a written project proposal electronically to the instructor at syi@utep.edu by Monday, Feb. 7 with the following information:

  • Project title, background, mathematical description of your problem (equations, domain), and your goal.

• Final report: Drop off a hard copy of your final project report in my mail box by 3 pm on Friday, May 6. You are also supposed to send the electronic file via email. Your report should be written in a format of a journal article. Choose a journal in your research area and download their latex template. You should include the following sections:

  • Introduction: background on the problem and relevance with respect to previous work done on the subject.

  • Govering Equations

  • Numerical Discretization using both FDM and FEM

  • Results: Convergence study, figures/tables, etc.

  • Conclusion

• Presentation: Each student will give a 20-minute presentation followed by a 5-minute Q/A on the final exam day, May 9. You should prepare your slides in Power Point, or in an equivalent format. Please, send an electronic version of your slides to me by 11:59 pm on Sunday, May 8.

Exams: There will be no exam.

Grading: Homework/Lab(50%), Final Project(50%)

MATLAB: MATLAB is an interactive environment for numerically manipulating arrays and matrices, as well as providing tools for visualizing data. The following are online resources for learning MATLAB.

1. MATLAB Tutorial from the MathWorks

2. An Introductory Guide to MATLAB, by Ian Cavers

3. MATLAB Basics from MIT

4. Tutorial from Boston University

You can access MATLAB in any of the following ways

1. ACES Academic Centers for Engineer and Scientists: Bell Hall 130, Physics 2nd floor lobby

2. ETC: Engineering Technology Center: Classroom building 401/402

3. Use Remote Desktop Connection (server: utepsoftware.utep.edu).

 

Help: If you need any help, seek it sooner rather than later!