In this paper, high order central finite difference schemes in a finite interval are analyzed for the diffusion equation. Boundary conditions of the initial-boundary value problem (IBVP) are treated by the simplified inverse Lax-Wendroff (SILW) procedure. For the fully discrete case, a third order explicit Runge-Kutta method is used as an example for the analysis. Stability is analyzed by both the GKS (Gustafsson, Kreiss and Sundstr\"om) theory and the eigenvalue visualization method on both semi-discrete and fully discrete schemes. The two different analysis techniques yield consistent results. Numerical tests are performed to demonstrate and validate the analysis results.

Global geometrical optics method is a new semi-classical approach for the high frequency linear waves proposed by the author in [13]. In this paper, we rederive it in a more concise way. It is shown that the right candidate of solution ansatz for the high frequency wave equations is the extended WKB function, other than the WKB function used in the classical geometrical optics approximation. A new and main contribution of this paper is an interface analysis for the Helmholtz equation when the incident wave is of extended WKB-type. We derive asymptotic expressions for the reflected and/or transmitted propagating waves in the general case. These expressions are valid even when the incident rays include caustic points.

In this work, we study the unsteady axisymmetric mixed convection boundary layer flow and heat transfer of non-Newtonian power law fluid over a cylinder. Different from most classical works, the temperature dependent variable fluid viscosity and thermal conductivity are taken into account in highly coupled velocity and temperature fields. The motion of the fluid can be modeled by a time-dependent nonlinear parabolic system in cylindrical coordinates, which is solved numerically by using Chebyshev spectral method along with the strong stability preserving (SSP) third order Runge-Kutta time discretization. We apply the numerical solver to problems with different power law indices, viscosity parameter, thermal conductivity parameter and Richardson numbers, and compute up to the steady state. The numerical solver is checked by testing the spectral convergence of the numerical approximation to a smooth exact solution of the PDEs with source terms. Moreover, the combined effects of pertinent physical parameters on the flow and heat transfer characteristics are analyzed in detail.

In earlier work, Maire developed a class of cell-centered Lagrangian schemes for solving Euler equations of compressible gas dynamics in cylindrical coordinates. These schemes use a node-based discretization of the numerical fluxes. The control volume version has several distinguished properties, including the conservation of mass, momentum and total energy and compatibility with the geometric conservation law (GCL). However it also has a limitation in that it cannot preserve spherical symmetry for one-dimensional spherical flow. An alternative is also given to use the first order area-weighted approach which can ensure spherical symmetry, at the price of sacrificing conservation of momentum. In this paper, we apply the methodology proposed in our recent work to the first order control volume scheme of Maire to obtain the spherical symmetry property. The modified scheme can preserve one-dimensional spherical symmetry in a two-dimensional cylindrical geometry when computed on an equal-angle-zoned initial grid, and meanwhile it maintains its original good properties such as conservation and GCL. Several two-dimensional numerical examples in cylindrical coordinates are presented to demonstrate the good performance of the scheme in terms of symmetry, non-oscillation and robustness properties.

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