Error Estimates of Semi-Lagrangian Schemes for Diffusive Conservation Laws

Abstract: We present error estimates of the fully semi-Lagrangian scheme with high-order interpolation operators, solving the initial value problems for the one-dimensional nonlinear diffusive conservation laws, including the Burgers equations. We impose certain assumptions on the interpolation operator, which are satisfied by both spline and Hermite interpolations. We establish the convergence rates of $ O(\Delta t + h^{2 s} / \Delta t) $ in the $ L^2 $-norm and $ O(\Delta t + h^{s} / (\Delta t)^{1/2} + h^{2s} / \Delta t) $ in the $ H^s $-norm for the spatial mesh size $ h $ and the temporal step size $ \Delta t $, where the spline or Hermite interpolation operator of degree $ (2s - 1) $ is employed. The numerical results are in agreement with the theoretical analysis.