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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2022 Jul 1.
Published in final edited form as: Comput Math Appl. 2021 Apr 15;93:32–49. doi: 10.1016/j.camwa.2021.04.005

A stochastic collocation approach for parabolic PDEs with random domain deformations

Julio E Castrillón-Candás a,*, Jie Xu a
PMCID: PMC8186465  NIHMSID: NIHMS1693737  PMID: 34113061

Abstract

In this article we analyze the linear parabolic partial differential equation with a stochastic domain deformation. In particular, we concentrate on the problem of numerically approximating the statistical moments of a given Quantity of Interest (QoI). The geometry is assumed to be random. The parabolic problem is remapped to a fixed deterministic domain with random coefficients and shown to admit an extension on a well defined region embedded in the complex hyperplane. The stochastic moments of the QoI are computed by employing a collocation method in conjunction with an isotropic Smolyak sparse grid. Theoretical sub-exponential convergence rates as a function to the number of collocation interpolation knots are derived. Numerical experiments are performed and they confirm the theoretical error estimates.

Keywords: Parabolic PDEs, Stochastic PDEs, Uncertainty Quantification, Stochastic Collocation, Complex Analysis, Smolyak Sparse Grids

1. Introduction

Mathematical modeling forms an essential part for understanding many engineering and scientific applications with physical domains. These models have been widely used to predict the QoI of any particular problem when the underlying physical phenomenon is well understood. However, in many cases the practicing engineer or scientist does not have direct access to the underlying geometry and uncertainty is introduced. Quantifying the effects of the stochastic domain on the QoI will be critical.

In this paper a numerical method to efficiently solve parabolic PDEs with respect to stochastic geometrical deformations is developed. Application examples include subsurface aquifers with geometric variability diffusion problems [13], acoustic energy propagation with geometric uncertainty [27], chemical diffusion with uncertain geometries [26], among others.

Several methods have been developed to quantify uncertainty of elliptic PDEs with stochastic domains. The perturbation approaches [21, 46, 18] are accurate for small stochastic domain deformations. In contrast, the collocation approaches in [9, 14, 45] allow the computation of the statistics of the quantity of interest for larger domain deviations, but lack a full error analysis. In [8], the authors present a collocation approach for elliptic PDEs based on Smolyak grids with a detailed analyticity and convergence analysis. Similar results where also developed in [20, 22]..

For stationary Stokes and Navier-Stokes Equations for viscous incompressible flow in [10], a regularity analysis of the solution is studied with respect to the deformation of the domain. This approach is similar to the mapping technique proposed in this paper i.e. the stochastic domain is assumed to be transformed from a fixed reference domain. The authors establish shape holomorphy with respect to the transformations of the shape of the domain.

In [25] the authors perform a shape holomorphy analysis for time-harmonic, electromagnetic fields arising from scattering by perfect conductor and dielectric bounded obstacles. This approach falls under the class of asymptotic methods for arbitrarily close random perturbations of the geometry. However, the authors show dimension-independent convergence rates for shape Taylor expansions of linear and higher order moments.

A fictitious domain approach combined with Wiener expansions was developed in [7], where the elliptic PDE is solved in a fixed domain. In [38, 37] the authors introduce a level set approach to the stochastic domain problem. In [40] a multi-level Monte Carlo has been developed. This approach is well suited for low regularity of the solution with respect to the domain deformations. Related work on Bayesian inference for diffusion problems and electrical impedance tomography on stochastic domains is considered in [16, 23].

The work developed in this paper is a extension of the analysis and error estimates derived in [8] to the parabolic PDE setting with Neumann and Dirichlet boundary conditions. Moreover, the stochastic domain deformation representation is extended to a larger class of geometrical perturbations. This class of perturbations was originally introduced in [20, 18].

The stochastic domain is assumed to be parameterized by a N valued random vector. Complex analytic regularity of the solution with respect to the random vector is shown. A detailed mathematical convergence analysis of the collocation approach based on isotropic Smolyak grids is presented. The error estimates are shown to decay sub-exponentially as a function of the number of interpolation nodes of the sparse grid. This approach can be extended to anisotropic sparse grids [35].

In Section 2 the problem formulation is discussed. The stochastic domain parabolic PDE problem is remapped onto a deterministic domain with a matrix valued random coefficients. In Section 3 the solution of the parabolic PDE is shown that an analytic extension exists in region in N. In Section 4 isotropic sparse grids and the stochastic collocation method are described. In Section 5 an error analysis of the QoI as a function of the number of sparse grid knots and a truncation approximation Ns < N of the random vector are derived. In section 6 numerical examples confirm the theoretical sub-exponential convergence rates of the sparse grids, and the truncation approximation.

2. Problem setting

Let D(ω)d be an open bounded domain that is dependent upon a random parameter ωΩ, where (Ω,F,) is a complete probability space, Ω is the set of outcomes, F is the σ-algebra of events and is a probability measure. The corresponding D(ω) is assumed to be Lipschitz.

Suppose that the boundary D(ω) is split into two disjoints sections DD(ω) and DN(ω). Consider the following boundary value problem such that the following equations hold almost surely:

tu(,t,ω)(a(,ω)u(,t,ω))=f(,t,ω)inD(ω)×(0,T)u(,t,ω)=0onDD(ω)×(0,T)a(,ω)u(,t,ω)n(,ω)=gN(,ω)onDN(ω)×(0,T)u(,0,ω)=u0()onD(ω)×{t=0} (1)

where T > 0. Let G:=ωΩD(ω), then the functions a:G,f:G×(0,T), and u0:G are defined over the region of all the stochastic perturbations of the domain D(ω) in d. Similarly, let G:=ωΩD(ω)d, then the boundary conditions gN:G are defined over all the stochastic perturbations of the boundary D(ω).

Before the weak formulation is posed, some notation and definitions are established. If q, let LPq(Ω) be defined as follows

LPq(Ω):={v|Ω|v(ω)|qd(ω)<}andLP(Ω):={v|ess supωΩ|v(ω)<},

where v:Ω is strongly measurable. For M valued vector functions v:DM, Dd,v:=[v1,,vM],1q<, let

[Lq(D)]M:={v|Dn=1M|vn(x)|qdx<}and[L(D)]M:={v|ess supxD,n=1,,M|vn(x)<}.

In addition, defined the following space

V(D(ω)):={vH1(D(ω))v=0onDD(ω)},

and denote by V*(D(ω)) the dual space of V(D(ω)).

Suppose that Γ:=Γ1××ΓNN, where for all n=1,,NΓn is a compact connected domain or unbounded. Let B(Γ) be the Borel σ–algebra with respect to Γ and suppose that Y:=[Y1,,YN]:ΩΓ is a N valued random vector measurable in (Ω,F,).

Consider the induced measure μY on (Γ,B(Γ)). Let μY:=(Y1(A)) for all AB(Γ). Suppose that the μY is absolutely continuous with respect to the Lebesgue measure defined on Γ, then from the Radon–Nikodym theorem [5] for any event AB(Γ) there exists a density function ρ(y):Γ[0,+) such that (YA):=(Y1(A))=Aρ(y)dy. In addition, the expected value is defined as E[Q]:=Γyρ(y)dy for any measurable function Q[LP1(Γ)]N.

For q define the following spaces

Lρq(Γ):={v(y):Γis strongly measurableΓv(y)qρ(y)dy<}andLρ(Γ):={v(y):Γis strongly measurable|ρ(y)dyess supyΓ|v(y)<},

We now pose the weak formulation of equation (1) (See Chapter 7 in [11] and Chapter 7 in [30]):

Problem 1.

Given that f(x,t,ω)L2(0,T;L2(D(ω))),gN(x,ω)L2(DN(ω)) and u0L2(G) find u(x,t,ω)L2(0,T;V(D(ω))),tuL2(0,T;V*(D(ω))), with Neumann boundary conditions on DN(ω) s.t.

D(ω)tuv+a(x,ω)uvdx=l(ω;v),inD(ω)×(0,T)u(x,0,ω)=u0onD(ω)×{t=0}, (2)

vV(D(ω)) almost surely, and

l(ω;v):=D(ω)f(x,t,ω)vdx+DN(ω)gN(x,ω)vdS(x).

Through out the paper, we restrict our attention to linear parabolic PDE with Neumann boundary conditions. Recall that the Neumann boundary condition gN(x,ω)L2(D(ω)) is defined over G. Problem 1 has a unique solution if the following assumption is satisfied (See Chapter 7 of [11], Chapter 7 of [30], and Chapter 4 of [32] in Volume II):

Assumption 1.

Let amin:=ess infxGa(x,ω) and amax:=ess supxG, and assume that 0<aminamax<.

Remark 1.

In Problem 1 vanishing Dirichlet boundary conditions are assumed to simplify the presentation. We can also consider nonzero Dirichlet boundary condition e.g. u(,t,ω)=gD(,t,ω)onDD(ω)×(0,T). If the boundary condition is time independent, i.e. u(,t,ω)=gD(,ω), then set u˜(,t,ω)=u(,t,ω)χ(,ω), where χH1(D(ω)) agrees with gD on D(ω). It follows the solution u˜(,t,ω) satisfies the following weak form on D(ω):

D(ω)tu˜(,t,ω)vdx+D(ω)a(,ω)u˜(,t,ω)vdx=D(ω)f(,t,ω)vdx+D(ω)a(,ω)χ(,ω)vdx.

Hence we translate the nontrivial Dirichlet boundary condition into the standard Dirichlet boundary condition with an alternative inhomogeneous term. The analyticity analysis in Section 3 can be easily extended by following similar assumptions and arguments for χ(,ω) as shown in [8]. However, it may also require a compatibility condition between gD and gN on D(ω).

On the other hand, if gD is a function of t, and agrees with some H1(D(ω)) - function χ(,t,ω) on D(ω) for each t, then the setup u˜(,t,ω)=u(,t,ω)χ(,t,ω) will result in an extra time dependent term in the weak sense:

D(ω)tu˜(,t,ω)vdx+D(ω)a(,ω)u˜(,t,ω)vdx=D(ω)tχ(,t,ω)vdx+D(ω)f(,t,ω)vdx+D(ω)a(,ω)χ(,t,ω)vdx

In this case, the analytic extension for the term tχ(,t,ω) becomes time dependent and the analysis is significantly more complicated.

2.1. Reformulation on a reference domain

To simplify the analysis of Problem 1 we remap the solution uH1(D(ω)) onto a non-stochastic fixed domain. This approach has been applied in [14, 8, 20, 22, 18] and we can then take advantage of the extensive theoretical and practical work of PDEs with stochastic diffusion coefficients.

The idea now is to remap the domain D(ω) onto a reference domain almost surely with respect to Ω. Suppose there exist a reference domain Ud with Lipschitz boundary U and a bijection F(ω):U¯D(ω)¯ that maps D(ω) into U almost surely with respect to Ω. The mapβx,U¯D(ω)¯, is written as

βx=F(β,ω),

where β are the coordinates for the reference domain U. See the cartoon example in Figure 1.

Figure 1:

Figure 1:

Bijection map graphic example of the reference domain U and the domain D(ω) with respect to the realization ωΩ. The drawing is rendered from a TikZ modification of the code provided in [43].

Assumption 2.

Denote by F(β,ω) the Freéhet derivative (Jacobian) of the bijective map F(β,ω):U¯D(ω)¯. Furthermore, let σmin(F(β,ω)) and σmax(F(β,ω))) be respectively the minimum and maximum singular value of F(β,ω). Suppose there exist constants 0<FminFmax< such that Fminσmin(F(β,ω)) and σmax(F(β,ω))Fmax a.e. in U and a.s. in Ω.

Remark 2.

The previous assumption implies that the Jacobian |F(β,ω)|L(U) almost surely.

From the Sobolev chain rule (see Theorem 3.35 in [1] or page 291 in [11]) it follows that for any vH1(D(ω))

D(ω)v=FT(vF), (3)

where D(ω) refers to the gradient on the domain D(ω), ∇ is the gradient on the reference domain U, and (vF)H1(U). Let

V:={vH1(U):v=0onUD},

where ∂U is the boundary of U,UDU is the range of F−1 with respect to the boundary DD(ω),UNU is the range of F−1 with respect to the boundary DN(ω) and UDUN=U. Furthermore, denote by V* the dual space of V.

We can now show that:

Lemma 1.

Under Assumptions 2 the following pairs of spaces are isomorphic

  1. L2(D(ω))L2(U).

  2. H1(D(ω))H1(U).

  3. L2(0,T;L2(D(ω)))L2(0,T;L2(U)).

  4. L2(0,T;H1(D(ω)))L2(0,T;H1(U)).

  5. L2(D(ω))L2(U).

  6. L2(0,T;V*(D(ω)))L2(0,T;V*).

  7. H1/2(D(ω))H1/2(U).

Proof.

  • i)–iv) From the Sobolev chain rule it is not hard to prove. These results can be found in either [8], or similarly in [9].

  • v) Suppose we have a disjoint finite covering T of the boundary ∂U such that for each τT there exists a Lipschitz bijective mapping ξτ:Br0τ (c.f. trace theorem proof, p. 258 in [11] for details and [39]), where Br0:={xBrxd=0} and Brd is a ball of radius r. In the following proof the Lipschitz mappings ξτ,τT, are assumed to be differentiable. From the Radamacher Theorem [12] every Lipschitz function is differentiable almost everywhere. Therefore without loss of generality we can replace the Lipschitz mappings ξτ,τT, with an equivalent differentiable version except for sets of measure zero. For simplicity we shall perform the following analysis with respect to a single open set τ and mapping ξτ:Br0τ.LetJτ:={xiξτj}1id11jd, then for any vL2(U)

τv2dS=Br0(vξτ)2|JτTJτ|12dx. (4)

Now, Kτ=F(τ,ω) covers a portion of the boundary of D(ω), then

Kτv2dS=Br0(vFξτ)2|JFτTJFτ|12,dx,

where JFτ=F(,ω)Jτ. It is not hard to show that for any vector sd1, where sl2=1,

σmin(F(,ω)TF(,ω))σmin(JτTJτ)sTJτTF(,ω)TF(,ω)Jτsσmax(F(,ω)TF(,ω))σmax(JτTJτ).

The result follows.

  • vi) Suppose that ξV(D(ω))*, then ξV(D(ω))* is equal to
    supvV((D(ω)))vV(D(ω))1|ξ(v)|=supvFVCvFVvV(D(ω))=1|ξ(vF)|.
    The positive constant C > 0 is due to the fact that H1(D(ω))H1(U). Let w^=C(vF), then
    ξV(D(ω))*supw^Vw^V1C1|ξ(w^)|=C1ξV*,C>0.

The converse is similarly proven.

  • vii)The result follows by using ii), the Trace Theorem and inverse Trace Theorem (Theorems 2.21 and 2.22 in [44]).

Note that analogous lemmas are proved in [8, 20].

From this point on the terms a.s. and a.e. will be dropped unless emphasis or disambiguation is needed. For any v,sH1(U)

B(ω;s,v):=U(aF)(β,ω)sTF1(β,ω)FT(β,ω)v|F(β,ω)|dβ.

With a change of variables the boundary value problem is remapped.

Problem 2.

Given that (fF)(β,t,ω)L2(0,T;L2(U)),g^N:=gNF, and g^NL2(UN) find u^(β,t,ω)L2(0,T;V),tuL2(0,T;V*), with Neumann boundary condition on ∂UN s.t.

Uv|F(β,ω)|tu^(β,t,ω)dβ+B(ω;u^,v)=l^(ω;v),inU×(0,T)u^(β,0,ω)=(u0F)(β,ω)onU×{t=0}

vV almost surely, where

l^(ω;v):=U(fF)(β,ω)|F(β)|vdβ+τTBr0(gNF)(βξτ,ω)(vξτ)|JτTF(βξτ,ω)TF(βξτ,ω)Jτ|12dx,

where TU:H1/2(U)H1(U) is a linear bounded operator such that g^H1/2(U), TUg^H1(U) satisfies (TUg^)|U=g^. The weak solution uH1(D(ω)) is obtained as u(x,ω)=(u^F1)(x,ω).

Now we have to be a little careful. The existence theorems from [11], Chapter 7, do not apply directly to Problem 2 due to the |F(β,ω)|tu^ term. Although the existence proof in [11] can be modified to incorporate this extended term, we direct our attention to Theorem 10.9 in [6] from J. Lions [32].

Let H (with norm H) and W (with norm W) be Hilbert spaces with the associated dual spaces H* and W* respectively. It is assumed that WH with dense and continuous injection so that

WHW*.

For a.e. t[0,T] suppose the bilinear form A[t;ζ,v]:W×W satisfies the following properties:

  1. For every ζ,vW the function tA[t;ζ,v] is measurable,

  2. For all ζ,vW|A[t;w,v]|MζWvW for a.e. t[0,T]

  3. For all vWA[t;v,v]αvW2CvH2 for a.e. t[0,T].

where α > 0, M and C are constants.

Theorem 1.

(J. Lions) Given a bounded linear functional LL2(0,T;W*) and u0H, there exists a unique function u^ satisfying u^L2(0,T;W)C([0,T];H),tu^L2(0,T;W*)

tu^,v+A[t;u^,v]=L,v

for a.e. t(0,T),vW, and u^(0)=u0.

Proof.

See Chapter 4 of Volume II of [32].

We can now use Theorem 1 to show that there exists a unique solution to Problems 1 and 2. Let W=V(D(ω)) and H=L2(D(ω)) then from Theorem 1 there exists a unique solution uL2(0,T;V(D(ω)) for Problem 1 such that tuL2(0,T;V*(D(ω))). From Lemma 1 there is an isomorphic map between u^ and u. Since there is a unique solution for Problem 1, we conclude there exists a solution u^L2(0,T;V) for Problem 2 such that tu^L2(0,T;V*). The last step is to confirm that it is unique solution. This is done by checking u^=0 is the solution whenever the inhomogeneous term vanishes and the boundary conditions are trivial.

2.2. Stochastic domain deformation map

The next step is to build a parameterization of the map F(β,ω) from a set of random variables Y1,,YN with probability density function ρ(y). One objective is to build a parameterization such that a large class of stochastic domain deformations are represented. Following the same approach as in [18, 20], without loss of generality we assume that the map F(β,ω) has the finite noise model

F(β,ω):=β+n=1Nμnbn(β)Yn(ω).

From the Doob-Dynkin Lemma the solution u^ to Problem 2 will be a function of the random variables Y1,,YN.

This is a very general representation of the stochastic domain deformation. For example, such representation may be achieved by a truncation of a Karhunen-Loéve (KL) expansion of vector random fields [20]. In general, the KL eigenfunctions bl(β)[L2(U)]d, which presents a problem, as the KL expansion of the random domain may lead to large spikes and thus most likely Problem 2 will be ill-posed. However, under stricter regularity assumptions of the covariance function the eigenfunctions will have higher regularity (see [15] for details). We thus make the following assumption:

Assumption 3.

For n=1,N:

  1. bn[W1,(U)]d.

  2. bn[L(U)]d=1

  3. >μ1μN>0. decreasing.

The Jacobian F can be similarly written as

F(β,ω)=I+n=1Nμnbn(β)Yn(ω). (5)

3. Analyticity of the boundary value problem

In this section we show that the solution to Problem 2 can be analytically extended on a region Θβ in N with respect to stochastic variable yΓ. The larger the complex analytic domain Θβ is the higher the regularity of the solution with respect to Γ. This provides us a path to estimate the convergence rates of the stochastic moments by using a sparse grid approximation. In particular, the larger the size of the region Θβ, the faster the convergence rate of the sparse grid approximation will be.

Remark 3.

To simplify the analysis assume that Γ is bounded in N. Without loss of generality it can also be assumed that Γ[1,1]N. However, Γ can be extended to the non-bounded case by following the approach described in [2].

We formulate the region Θβ by making the following assumption:

Assumption 4.

1. There exists 0<δ˜<1 such that n=1Nμnbn(β)21δ˜ for all βU.

For any 0<β<δ˜ define the region ΘβN (as shown in Figure 2 (a)):

Θβ:={zN;z=y+v,y[1,1]N,n=1NsupxUbn2μn|vn|β}. (6)

Figure 2:

Figure 2:

Graphical representation of the sets Γ and Γf. (a) ΘβN is the extension of the set Γ as a function of the parameter β. (b) Extension of Γf into the region FNf.

Now, we can extend the mapping F(β,y)=I+R(β,y), with R(β,y):=n=1Nμnbn(β)yn, to N by simply replacing y with zΘβ. It is clear due to linearity that the entries of the maps F and ∂F are holomorphic in N. Moreover, denote by ΨF(Θβ) the image of F:ΘβΨ.

Since y[1,1]N then the matrix inverse of F(y) can be written as F1(y)=(I+R(y))1=I+k=1(R(y))k. Furthermore, since β<δ˜ then the holomorphic expansion of F1(y) can be written as the series

F1(z)=(I+R(z))1=I+k=1(R(z))k.

The sum is pointwise convergent zΘβ. We conclude that for all zΘβ the entries of the matrix F(z)1 are analytic.

Up to this point we have assumed that only the geometry is stochastic but have made no assumptions on further randomness in the forcing function, the boundary conditions or the initial condition in Problems 1 and 2. These terms can also be extended with respect to other stochastic spaces.

Assumption 5.

  1. Suppose that the Nf valued random vector f:=[f1,,fNf]T takes values on Γf:=Γ˜1××Γ˜Nf with the probability density ρf(f):ΓNf[0,+). The domains Γ˜1,,Γ˜Nf can be assumed to be closed intervals in . Now, assume that the random vector f is independent of y and write the forcing function f:D(ω)×Γf as
    f(x,f,t)=n=1Nfcn(t,fn)ξn(x),
    where for n=1,,Nf,cn(t,f)Lρf(Γf)t+, and ξn:D(ω). Since ξn is defined on D(ω) we can remap f:D(ω)×Γf with pullback onto the reference domain as
    (fF)(β,f,y,t)=n=1Nfcn(t,fn)(ξnF)(β,y).
    We shall now make analytic extension assumptions of the coefficients cn(t, f) and ξn for n=1,,Nf. The coefficients cn(,f):Γf are defined over the domain Γf. Since the solution u^ from Problem 2 is dependent on the coefficient cn(t, f) certain analyticity assumptions have to be made. In particular, suppose there exists an analytic extension of cn(,f) onto the set FNf, where ΓNfNf (See Figure 2 for a graphical representation). The size of the region F will directly depend on the coefficients cn(,f) on a case by case basis. Furthermore, for n=1,,Nf the following assumptions are made:
    • (ξnF)(β,y) can be analytically extended on Θβ,Re(ξnF)(z)L2(U),Im(ξnF)(z)L2(U)zΘβ.
    • Rezn(ξnF)(z),Imzn(ξnF)(z)L2(U) where zn refers to the the Wirtinger derivative along the nth dimension.
  2. The initial condition (u0F)(β,y) has an analytic extension on Θβ. Moreover, it is assumed that Re(u0F)(β,z),Im(u0F)(β,z)L2(U) for all zΘβ.

Assumption 6.

We make the following assumptions on the Neumann boundary conditions: It is also assumed that (gNF)(β,y) can be analytically extended on Θβ, and that Re(gNF)(z)L2(U), Im(gNF)(z)L2(U)zΘβ. Furthermore, assume that det(JτTF(β,z)TF(β,z)Jτ)12 is analytic for all z in some region CN for all τT.

Remark 4.

Since F(β,z) is analytic everywhere then s(β,z):=det(JτTF(β,z)TF(β,z)Jτ) is analytic in N. Thus s(β,z)12 is analytic if Res(β,z)>0. The region CN can be synthesized by placing the restriction on Res(β,z)>0. This can be achieved by placing restrictions on F(β,z) for all zC. This is, however, a little involved and is left for a future publication. Thus, to simplify the rest of the discussion in this paper we assume that there exists a constant β^ such that ββ^<δ˜ and C=ΘβΘβ^.

To show that an analytic extension of the solution to Problem 2 exists certain assumptions on the diffusion coefficient a(x) are made. This assumption is left quite general and should be checked on a case by case basis.

Assumption 7.

Suppose that the diffusion coefficient a(x):G is a deterministic map defined over the domain G:=ωΩD(ω). Furthermore, assume there exists an analytic extension of a(x) such that if xΨ then

  1. amaxcRea(x)aminc,

  2. |Ima(x)|<amin,

where c=1/tan(c1) and π/8>c1>0.

Let G(z):=(aF)(β,z)F1(z)FT(z)|F(z)| for all zΘβ, we can now conclude that G(z) is analytic for all zΘβ.

The following lemma shows under what conditions the matrix Re G(z) is positive definite and provides uniform bounds for the minimum eigenvalue of Re G(z). This lemma is key to showing that there exists an analytic extension of u^(β,y) on Θβ. Note that this is an extension of Lemma 5 in [8].

Lemma 2.

Whenever

0<β<min{δ˜logγcd+logγc,1+δ˜2/21},

where γc:=2δ˜d+c(2δ˜)dδ˜d+c(2δ˜)d then for all zΘβ Re G(z) is positive definite. Furthermore, we have the following uniform bounds:

  1. λmin(ReG(z)1)A(δ˜,β,d,c1,amin,amax)>0 where
    A(δ˜,β,d,c1,amax,amin):=(2δ˜)d(2α(β))1(amax2c2+amin2)1/2(cos(2c1)δ˜(δ˜2β)sin(2c1)2β(2+(βδ˜))),
    and α(β):=2exp(dβδβ),
  2. λmax(ReG(z)1)R(δ˜,β,d,c1,amin)< where
    R(δ˜,β,d,c1,amin):=(aminc)1δ˜dα(β)1(2β(2+βδ˜)+(2δ˜+β)2).
  3. σmax(ImG(z)1)L(δ˜,β,d,c1,amin)< where
    L(δ˜,β,d,c1,amin):=(aminc)1δ˜dα(β)1(2β(2+(βδ˜))+((2δ˜)+β)2+β2).

Proof.

(a) From the proof in Lemma 5 in [8] and Assumption 4 we have that if β<δ˜/2 then

λmin(ReF(z)TF(z))δ˜(δ˜2β)>0. (7)

Furthermore, for all zΘβ,

maxi=1,,d|λi(ImF(z)TF(z))|2β(2+(βδ˜)), (8)

thus

ReG(z)1=Re((aR(z)iaI(z))|a(z)|2(ξR(z)iξI(z))|ξ(z)|2(ReF(z)TF(z)+iImF(z)TF(z)))=Re(eiθa(z)|a(z)|eiθξ(z)|ξ(z)|(ReF(z)TF(z)+iImF(z)TF(z)))

where with a slight abuse of notation ξ(z):=ξR(z)+iξI(z)=|ξ(z)|eiθξ(z)=|I+R(z)| and a(z):=|a(z)|eiθa(z)=aR(z)+iaI(z)=Re(aF)(β,z)+iIm(aF)(β,z).

It is simple to check that ReF(z)TF(z) and ImF(z)TF(z) are Hermitian. Let ψR(z):=Rea1(z)ξ1(z) and ψI(z):=Ima1(z)ξ1(z). For the next step the dual Lidskii inequality is applied. Suppose that K,Ld×d are Hermitian, then λmin(K+L)λmin(K)+λmin(L). Assuming that ψR(z)>0 it follows from the dual Lidskii inequality that

λmin(ReG(z)1)λmin(ψR(z)(ReF(z)TF(z))ψI(z)ImF(z)TF(z))λmin(ψR(z)ReF(z)TF(z))+λmin(ψI(z)ImF(z)TF(z))ψR(z)λmin(ReF(z)TF(z))+λmin(ψI(z)ImF(z)TF(z))ψR(z)λmin(ReF(z)TF(z))|ψI(z)|maxk=1,,d|λk(ImF(z)TF(z))|. (9)

The next step is to place sufficient conditions on ξ(z),a(z) and F(z)TF(z) such that λmin(ReG(z)1)>0 in Equation (9).

  1. First we determine for what range of values of β the following inequality is satisfied:
    ξR(z)c|ξI(z)| (10)
    for all zΘβ. From Lemma 4 in [8] iii) we have that if α=2expdβδ˜β>0 then Re|F(y)|δ˜dα and |Im|F(y)(2δ˜d)(1α). Thus we need to solve for β such
    ξR(z)δdαc(2δ˜d)(1α)c|ξI(z)|
    for all zΘβ. This is achieved if β<δ˜logγcd+logγc, where γc:=2δ˜d+c(2δ˜)dδ˜d+c(2δ˜)d.
  2. From Assumption 7 it follows that aR(z)>c|aI(z)| if zΘβ.

  3. From inequalities (7) and (8) it follows that if β<1+δ˜2/21 then
    λmin(ReF(z)TF(z))>maxk=1,,d|λk(ImF(z)TF(z))|.

From I) - II) it follows that ψR(z)>|ψI(z)| since the angle of ψ(z) is less than π/4 for all zΘβ. However, an explicit expression can be derived:

ψR(z)|ψI(z)|=|ψ(z)|(cos(θψ(z))sin(θψ(z))),

where |ψ(z)|=1|a(z)||ξ(z)| and θψ(z)=θa(z)θξ(z). We observe from Assumption 7 that

tanθa(z)=Im(a(z))Re(a(z))<|Im(a(z))|Re(a(z))
tan(θa(z))=Im(a(z))Re(a(z))<|Im(a(z))|Re(a(z)).

It follows that |θa(z)|<π8. Apply the same argument to θξ(z), we have |θξ(z)|<π8. It follow that

θψ(z)=θa(z)θξ(z)(π4,π4). (11)

Since cos(θ)>sin(θ),θ(π4,π4), we obtain

ψR(z)|ψI(z)|>0.

In particular, substituting equations (7) and (8) in equation (9) we obtain that for all zΘβ

λmin(ReG(z)1)A(δ˜,β,d,c1,amin,amax)>0.

Since λmin(ReG(z)1) is uniformly bounded by below it follows from From London’s Lemma [33] that for all zΘβReG(z) is positive definite.

(b) From the proof in Lemma 5 in [8] and Assumption 4 we have that

λmax(ReF(z)TF(z))(2δ˜+β)2. (12)

From Assumption 7 we have that |a(z)|1(aminc)1 for all zΘβ. From Lemma 4 in [8] |ξ(z)|1δ˜dα(β)1 for all zΘβ. We then have that

|ψ(z)|(aminc)1δ˜dα(β)1. (13)

Applying the Lidskii inequality (if A,Bd×d are Hermitian then λmax(A+B)λmax(A)+λmax(B)) and substituting equations (7), (8), (12) and (13)

λmax(ReG(z)1)|ψR(z)|λmax(ReF(z)TF(z))+|ψI(z)|maxi|λi(ImF(z)TF(z))|λmax(ReF(z)TF(z))+maxi|λi(ImF(z)TF(z))||ψ(z)|1R(δ˜,β,d,c1,amin)<.

(c) Similarly to (b), as shown in [8], it can be shown that

σmax(ImF(z)TF(z))2β(2+(βδ˜)). (14)

and

σmax(ReF(z)TF(z))((2δ˜)+β)2+β2. (15)

From equations (13), (14) and (15) it follows that

σmax(ImG(z)1)|ψR(z)|σmax(ImF(z)TF(z))+|ψI(z)|σmax(ReF(z)TF(z))L(δ˜,β,d,c1,amin)<.

Lemma 3.

For all zΘβ and βU whenever

0<β<min{δ˜logγcd+logγc,1+δ˜2/21}

Then λmin(ReG(z))ε(δ˜,β,d,c1,amax,amin)>0, where ε(δ˜,β,d,c1,amax,amin) is equal to

(1+(L(δ˜,β,d,c1,amin)A(δ˜,β,d,c1,amin,amax))2)1(δ˜,β,d,c1,amin)1.

Proof.

The proof essentially follows Lemma 6 in [8]. The main result of this section can now be proven.

Theorem 2.

Let 0<δ˜<1 then u^(β,y,f,t) can be analytically extended on Θβ×F if

β<min{δ˜logγcd+logγc,1+δ˜2/21}.

Proof.

Suppose that V is a vector valued Hilbert space equipped with the inner product (γ,v)V, where v:=[ϑ1ϑ2]T and γ:=[γ1γ2]T, such that for all ϑ1,ϑ2,γ1,γ2V

(γ,v):=(γ1,ϑ1)+(γ1,ϑ1)+(γ2,ϑ2)+(γ2,ϑ2).

Consider the extension of (y,f)(z,q) on Θβ×F. Let Φ(y,f,t):=u^(y,f,t) and consider the extension Φ=ΦR+iΦI on Θβ×F, where ΦR:=ReΦ and ΦI:=ImΦ. Let ζ=[ΦR,ΦI]T, then the extension of Φ on Θβ×F is posed in the weak form as: Find ζL2(0,T;V),tζL2(0,T;V*) such that

UtζTC(z)Tv+ζTG(z)Tvdβ=Uf^(z,q,t)vdβ+τTBr0gvdxinU×(0,T)ζ=ζ0onU×{t=0} (16)

for all vV, where v:=[ϑ1,ϑ2]T,

G(z):=(GR(z)GI(z)GI(z)GR(z))f^(z,q,t):=(fRfI)g(z):=(gNRgNI)0:=(00),C(z):=(cR(z)cI(z)cI(z)cR(z))d(z):=(dRdI)ζ0(z):=(u0Ru0I),

GR(z):=Re{G(z)}, GI(z):=Im{G(z)}, cR(z):=Re{|F(z)|}, cI(z):=Im{|F(z)|}, fR:=Re{(fF)(q,z,t)|F(z)|}, fI:=Im{(fF)(q,z,t)|F(z)|}, u0R=Re(uF)(z), u0I=Im(uF)(z), dR(z):=Re{G(z)χ^}, dI(z):=Im{G(z)^χ}, gNR=Re{(gNF)(βξτ,z)det(JτTF(βξτ,z)TF(βξτ,z)Jτ)12} and gNI=Im{(gNF)(βξτ,z)det(JτTF(βξτ,z)TF(βξτ,z)Jτ)12} The system of equations (16) has a unique solution if GR is uniformly positive definite (λmin(GR(z))>0) since this implies that λmin(G(z))>0 uniformly. From Lemma 2 this condition is satisfied if zΘβ. Moreover, Φ(z,q,t) coincides with Φ(y,f,t) whenever zΓ and qΓf thus making it a valid extension of Φ(y,f,t) on Θβ×F.

The analytic regularity of the solution Φ(z,q,t) with respect to variables in z is now analyzed. However, it is not necessary to perform the analysis with respect to all the variables z jointly. It is sufficient to show that Φ(z,q,t) is analytic with respect to each variable zn,n=1,,N, separately. As shown at the end of the proof it can be concluded that Φ(z,q,t) is analytic in Θβ×F.

First, we concentrate on the zn variable of the vector z. Let s=Rezn and w = Im zn. Analogous to [8], we would like to take derivatives on (16) with respect to w and s, but we cannot do this directly since we do not know whether ζ is differentiable in w or s. Due to Lemma 8, wζ and sζ do exist on Θβ×F. Furthermore, we also conclude from Lemma 8 that:

  1. wζL2(0,T;V),twζL2(0,T;V*) uniquely satisfies
    UtwζTC(z)Tv+wζTG(z)Tvdβ=U(tζTwC(z)TvζTwG(z)Tv+wf^(z,q,t)v)dβ+τTBr0wgvdx (17)
    in U × (0, T) for all vV and
    wζ=wζ0(onU×{t=0}).
  2. sζL2(0,T;V),tsζL2(0,T;V*) uniquely satisfies
    UtsζTC(z)Tv+sζTG(z)Tvdβ=U(tζTsC(z)TvζTsG(z)Tv+sf^(z,q,t)v)dβ+sd^(z)v+τTBr0sgvdx (18)
    in U × (0, T) for all vV and
    sζ=sζ0(onU×{t=0}).

In the following argument we show that Φ is analytic with respect to zn for all zΘβ×F by using the Cauchy-Riemann equations. Consider the two functions P(z):=sΦR(z)wΦI(z) and Q(z):=wΦR(z)+sΦI(z),P:=[P(z),Q(z)]T. First, let us write out explicitly equation (18) for the first term:

tsζTC(z)Tv=(tsΦRcRtsΦIcI)ϑ1+(tsΦRcItsΦIcR)ϑ2. (19)

Second, for equation (17) exchange ϑ1 with ϑ2, and ϑ2 with ϑ1 (Note, that this is valid since equations (16) and (17) are satisfied for all vV), then the first term can written explicitly as

(twΦRcRtwΦIcI)ϑ2(twΦRcItwΦIcR)ϑ1. (20)

Adding Equations (19) and (20) we obtain

tPTC(z)Tv.

Following for the rest of the terms we obtain the following weak problem: Find PL2(0,T;V), with tPL2(0,T;V*), s.t.

UtPTC(z)Tv+PTG(z)Tvdβ=U(tζT[scR(z)wcI(z)scI(z)+wcR(z)(scI(z)+wcR(z))scR(z)wcI(z)]v+ζT[sGR(z)wGI(z)sGI(z)+wGR(z)(sGI(z)+wGR(z))sGR(z)wGI(z)]v+[sfR(z,q,t)wfI(z,q,t)sfI(z,q,t)+wfR(z,q,t)]Tdβ+τTBT0[sgNR(z)wgNI(z)sgNI(z)+wgNR(z)]Tvdx

in U × (0, T) for all vV and

P=0(onUD×(0,T)andU×{t=0})

Since (fF)(q,z,t) is holomorphic in Θβ×F and c(z) and G(z) are holomorphic in Θβ then from the Cauchy Riemann equations we have that

UtPTC(z)Tv+PTG(z)Tvdβ=0.

Observe that zero solved the above equation above, and hence due to uniqueness we have that Q(z) = P(z) = 0 and therefore Φ(z, q, t) is holomorphic in Θβ along the nth dimension. From Hartogs’ Theorem (Chap1, p32, [31]) and Osgood’s Lemma (Chap 1, p 2, [19]) Φ(z, q, t) is holomorphic in Θβ whenever qF.

Since f^(z,q,t) is holomorphic in Θβ×F then Φ(z, q, t) is also holomorphic in F whenever zΘβ. Applying Hartogs’ Theorem and Osgood’s Lemma it follows that Φ(z, q, t) is holomorphic in Θβ×F.

4. Stochastic polynomial approximation

Consider the problem of approximating a function ν:ΓW on the domain Γ. Our goal is to seek an accurate approximation of ν in a suitably defined finite dimensional space. To this end the following spaces are defined:

We first define the space of tensor product polynomials Pp(Γ)Lρ2(Γ), where p=(p1,pN) controls the degree along each dimension. Let Ppn(Γn):=span(ynm,m=0,,pn),n=1,,N, and form the space Pp(Γ)=n=1NPpn(Γn).

Suppose that lkp,kK, is a series of Lagrange polynomials that form a basis for Pp(Γ). An approximation of ν, know as the Tensor Product (TP) representation, can be constructed as

νN(y)=kKν(,yk)lkp(y)

where yk are evaluation points from an appropriate set of abscissas. However, this is a poor choice for approximating ν as the dimensionality of the index set K is Πn=1N(pn+1). Thus the computational burden quickly becomes prohibitive as the number of dimensions N increases. This motivates us to choose a reduced polynomial basis while retaining good accuracy.

Consider the univariate Lagrange interpolant along the nth dimension of Γ:

Inm(i):C0(Γn)Pm(i)1(Γn).

In the above equation i ≥ 0 is the level of approximation and m(i)0 is the number of evaluation points at level i0 where m(0) = 0, m(1) = 1 and m(i) ≤ m(i + 1) if i ≥ 1. Note that by convention P1=.

An interpolant can now be constructed by taking tensor products of Inm(i) along each dimension n. However, the dimensionality of Pp increases as n=1N(pn+1) with N. Thus even for a moderate size of dimensions the computational cost of the Lagrange approximation becomes intractable. In contrast, given sufficient regularity of ν with respect to the stochastic variables defined on Γ, the application of Smolyak sparse grids is better suited [42, 4, 3, 36]).

Consider the difference operator along the nth dimension of Γ

Δnm(i):=Inm(i)Inm(i1).

We can now construct a sparse grid from a tensor product of the difference operators along every dimension. Denote w0,w>0, as the approximation level. Let i=(i1,,iN)+N be a multi-index and given the user defined function g:+N, which is considered to be strictly increasing along each argument. Note that the function g imposes a restriction along each dimension such that a small subset of the polynomial tensor is selected. More precisely, the sparse grid approximation of ν is constructed as

Swm,g[ν]=i+N:g(i)wn=1NΔnm(in)(ν(y)).

The sparse grid with respect to formulas (m, g) and level w can also be written as

Swm,g[ν(y)]=i+N:g(i)wc(i)n=1NInm(in)(ν(y)),withc(i)=j{0,1}Ng(i+j)w(1)|j|.

Let m(i)=(m(i1),,m(iN))+N vector and the define the following index set with respect to (m, g, w) as

Λm,g(w)={pN,g(m1(p+1))w}.

The indices in Λm,g(w) form the set of allowable polynomial moments Λm,g(w)(Γ) restricted by (m, g, w). Specifically this polynomial set is defined as

Λm,g(w)(Γ):=span{n=1Nynpn,withpΛm,g(w)}.

We have different choices for m and g. One of the objectives is to achieve good accuracy while restricting the growth of dimensionality of the space Λm,g(w)(Γ). The well known Smolyak sparse grid [36] can be constructed with the following formulas:

m(i)={1,fori=12i1+1,fori>1andg(i)=n=1N(in1).

For this choice the index set Λm,g(w):={pN:nf(pn)w} where

f(p)={0,p=01,p=1log2(p),p2.

This selection is known as the Smolyak sparse grid. Other choices include the Total Degree (TD) and Hyperbolic Cross (HC), which are described in [8]. See Figure 4 for a graphical representation of the index sets Λm,g(w) for N = 2.

Figure 4:

Figure 4:

Embedding of the polyellipse Eσ1,,σNs:=Πn=1NsEn,σn in ΣΘβ. Each ellipse En,σn is embedded in ΣnΘβ for n=1,,Ns.

The Smolyak sparse grid combined with Clenshaw-Curtis abscissas form a sequence of nested one dimensional interpolation formulas and a sparse grid with a highly reduced number of nodes compared to the corresponding tensor grid. For any choice of m(i) > 1 the Clenshaw-Curtis abscissas, which are formed from the extrema of Chebyshev polynomials, are given by

yjn=cos(π(j1)m(i)1).

We finally remark that not all of the stochastic dimensions have to be treated equally. In particular, some dimensions will have more of a contribution to the sparse grid approximation that others. By adapting the restriction function g to the input random variables yn for n=1,,N a more accurate anisotropic sparse grid can be obtained [41, 35]. For the sake of simplicity in the rest of this paper we restrict ourselves to isotropic sparse grids. However, an extension to the anisotropic setting is not difficult.

5. Error analysis

In this section we analyze the error contributions of the sparse grid approximation to the mean and variance estimates of the QoI. In addition, an error analysis is also performed with respect to a truncation of the stochastic model to the first Ns dimensions. Note that the error contributions from the finite element and implicit solvers are neglected since there are many methods that can be used to solve the parabolic equation (e.g. [30]) and the analysis can be easily adapted. First, we establish some notation and assumptions:

  1. Split the Jacobian matrix:
    F(β,ω)=I+l=1Nsμlbl(β)Yl(ω)+l=Ns+1Nμlbl(β)Yl(ω). (21)
    and let Γs:=[1,1]Ns,Γκ:=[1,1]NNs, then the domain Γ=Γs×Γκ.
  2. Assume that Q:L2(U) is a bounded linear functional on L2(U) with norm .

  3. Refer to Q(ys) as Q(y) restricted to the stochastic domain Γs and similarly for G(ys). It is clear also that Q(ys, yκ) = Q(y) and G(ys, yκ) = G(y) for all y ∈ Γs × Γκ, ys ∈ Γs, and yκ ∈ Γκ.

  4. Suppose that the Ng < Nf valued random vector g=[f1,,fNg] matches with f from the first to Nf entry and takes values on Γg:=Γ˜1××Γ˜Ng. The truncated forcing function can now be written as
    (fF)(β,g,y,t)=n=1Ngcn(t,fn)(ξnF)(β,y).

It is not difficult to show that the variance error (|var[Q(ys,yκ,f,t)]var[Swm,g[Q(ys,g,t)]]|) and mean error (|E[Q(ys,yκ,f,t)]E[Swm,g[Q(ys,g,t)]]|) are less or equal to (see [8])

CTRQ(ys,yκ,f,t)Q(ys,f,t)Lρ2(Γ×Γf)Truncation (I)+CFTRQ(ys,f,t)Q(ys,g,t)Lρ2(Γ×Γf)Forcing function Truncation (II)+CSGQ(ys,g,t)Swm,g[Q(ys,g,t)]Lρ2(Γs×Γg),Sparse Grid (III)

where CT R, CF T R and CSG are positive constants and t(0,T). We now derive error estimates for the truncation (I) and sparse grid (II) errors.

5.1. Truncation error (I)

We study the effect of truncating the stochastic Jacobian matrix to the first Ns stochastic dimensions. Consider the bounded linear functional Q:L2(U), then

|Q(ys,yκ,f,t)Q(ys,f,t)|Qu^(ys,yκ,f,t)u^(ys,f,t)L2(U).

It follows that for t(0,T)

Q(ys,yκ,f,t)Q(ys,f,t)Lρ2(Γ×Γf)Qu^(ys,yκ,f,t)u^(ys,f,t)Lρ2(Γ×Γf;L2(U)).

The objective now is to control the error term u^(y,f,t)u^(ys,f,t)Lρ2(Γ×Γf;L2(U)). But first we establish some notation. If W is a Banach space defined on U then let define the following spaces

C0(Γ;W):={v:ΓWis continuous on Γ andmaxyΓv(y)W<}.

and

Lρ2(Γ;W):={v:ΓWis strongly measurable andΓvW2ρ(y)dy<}.

With a slight abuse of notation let ς^(ys,f,t):=u^(ys,f,t) for all t(0,T),ysΓs and fΓf. From Theorem 2 it follows that

ς^,u^C0(Γ×Γf;L2(0,T;V))Lρ2(Γ×Γf;L2(0,T;V)).

We can now bound the error due to the truncation of the stochastic variables. However, due to the heavy density of the notation, we first prove several lemmas that will be useful to the truncation analysis.

Lemma 4.

Let

BT:=supβUl=Ns+1NμlblandCT:=i=Ns+1Nμl

then

  1. supβU,yΓ|F(y)F(ys)|CT.

  2. supyΓF(y)||F(ys)Fmaxd1Fmin2dBT.

  3. supβU,yΓG(y)G(ys)amaxBTH(Fmax,Fmin,δ˜,d) for some positive constant H(Fmax,Fmin,δ˜,d).

  4. For all τT
    supxBr0,yΓJτTF(βξτ,y)TF(βξτ,y)Jτ||JτTF(βξτ,ys)TF(βξτ,ys)Jτ32(d1)supxBr0J˜τ(x)2dFmax2d1BT,
    where
    J˜τ:=[Jτ0]
    and 0d
Proof.

(a) - (c) Follow the same arguments as in Theorem 10 in [8]. (d) To prove this last inequality, we use Theorem 2.12 in [24] (A,Ed×d then |det(A+E)det(A)|dEmax{A,A+E}d1). For any τT let A:=JτT,F(βξτ,ys)TF(βξτ,ys)Jτ and E:=JτTEJτ, where

ε:=(βξτ,F(βξτ,yκ)TF(βξτ,yκ)+F(βξτ,yκ)TF(βξτ,ys)+F(βξτ,ys)TF(βξτ,yκ)),

then

E=J˜τTEJ˜τ=EJ˜τJ˜τTEJ˜τJ˜τT32(d1)J˜τJ˜τTFmax2(d1)BT.

The result follows.

Lemma 5.

Let

χU(β)={1βU0o.w.,

then

  1. U|((fF)(y,f,t)(fF)(ys,f,t))|F(y)e(y,f,t)FmaxdχUL2(U)supfΓffW1,(G×(0,T))supt(0,T)e(y,f,t)VCT

  2. U|(fF)(ys,f,t)(|F(y)||F(ys)|)e(y,f,t)|Fmaxd1Fmin2dBTsupt(0,T)e(y,f,t)Vsupt(0,T)fΓf,yΓ(fF)(y,f,t)L2(U)

Proof.
  1. U|((fF)(y,f,t)(fF)(ys,f,t))|F(y)e(y,f,t)FmaxdχUL2(U)supfΓffW1,(G×(0,T))supt(0,T)e(y,f,t)VsupyΓ,βU|F(y)F(ys)|.

    The result follows from Lemma 4 (a).

  2. U|(fF)(ys,f,t)(|F(y)||F(ys)|)e(y,f,t)|supt(0,T)e(y,f,t)Vsupt(0,T)fΓf,yΓ(fF)(y,f,t)L2(U)supyΓ,βUF(y)||F(ys).

    The result follows from Lemma 4 (b).

Lemma 6.

Let ST:=supxBr0,τT,yΓ|s((βξτ)(x),y)12|,CT:=(infxBr0,τTσmin(d1)/2(JτTJτ))1, and CT (U) the trace constant defined in [11] then

τTBr0((gNF)(β,y)(gNF)(β,ys))s(β,y)12)e(y,f,t)dxCT(U)CTSTsupt(0,T)e(y,f,t)VgNW1,(GN)CT
Proof.

From Lemma 4 (a) it follows that

τTBr0((gNF)(β,y)(gNF)(β,ys))s(β,y)12)e(y,f,t)dxSTτTBr0|((gNF)(β,y)(gNF)(β,ys))e(y,f,t)|dxSTgNW1,(GN)CT(τTBr0|e(y,f,t)|dx).

By using the trace theorem [11] we have that e(y,f,t)L2(U)CT(U)e(y,f,t)V where CT (U). From equation (4), Jensen’s inequality and the fact that all τT are disjoint then

CT1τTBr0|e(y,f,t)|dxτTBr0|e(y,f,t)JτTJτ|12dx=e(y,f,t)L1(U)e(y,f,t)L2(U)CT(U)e(y,f,t)V.

Lemma 7.

Let DT:=(infxBr0,τT,yΓ|s((βξτ)(x),y)12|)1 then

τTBr0|(gNF)(β,ys)(s(β,y)12s(β,ys)12)e(y,f,t)|dx32(d1)dFmax2d1CT(U)CTDTsupt(0,T)e(y,f,t)VgNL(GN)BT,supxBr0J˜τ(x)2.
Proof.

Following the same arguments as in the proof of Lemma 6

τTBr0|(gNF)(β,ys)(s(β,y)12s(β,ys)12)e(y,f,t)|dxsupτTJτTF(βξτ,y)TF(βξτ,y)Jτ|12|JτTF(βξτ,ys)TF(βξτ,ys)Jτ|12gNL(GN)τTBr0|e(y,f,t)|dxCT(U)CTsupt(0,T)e(y,f,t)VgNL(GN)supτTJτTF(βξτ,y)TF(βξτ,y)Jτ|12|JτTF(βξτ,ys)TF(βξτ,ys)Jτ|12.

From the mean value theorem

supτTJτTF(βξτ,y)TF(βξτ,y)Jτ|12|JτTF(βξτ,ys)TF(βξτ,ys)Jτ|12DTsupτTJτTF(βξτ,y)TF(βξτ,y)Jτ||JτTF(βξτ,ys)TF(βξτ,ys)Jτ.

The result follows from Lemma 4 (d).

Theorem 3.

Suppose that ς^C0(Γs;L2(0,T;V)) satisfies

U|F(ys)|vtς^dβ+B(ys;ς^,v)=l^(ys;f,v)vV (22)

for all fΓf, where ς^(ys,f,0)=u0. Let e(y,f,t):=u^(y,f,t)ς^(ys,f,t) then for 0<t<T,fΓf, it follows that

e(y,f,t)Lρ2(Γ×Γf;L2(U))21BT+2CT,

where 1,2+.

Proof.

Consider the solution to equation (22)

ς^C0(Γs×Γf;L2(0,T;V))Lρ2(Γs×Γf;L2(0,T;V))

where the matrix of coefficients G(ys) depends only on the variables Y1,,YNs. Following an argument similar to Strang’s Lemma it follows that

ς^(ys)u^(y)V2K(|l^(ys;ζ^(ys)u^(y))l^(y;ς^(ys)u^(y))|+U(ς^(ys)u^(y))(|F(y)||F(ys)|)tς^(ys))+U(ς^(ys)u^(y))(|F(y)|(tu^(y)tς^(ys)))+B(y;u^(y),ς^(ys)u^(y))B(ys;u^(y),ς^(ys)u^(y)))), (23)

where K:=amin1FmindFmax2(CP(U)2) and CP(U) is the Poincaré constant. Recall that e(y):=u^(y)ς^(ys) and note that

Ue(y)|F(y)|12t(|F(y)|12e(y))=12te(y)|F(y)|12L2(U)2.

We conclude that

t|F(y)|e(y,f,t)L2(U)22(B1+B2+B3)

for all t ∈ (0; T), f ∈ Γf and y ∈ Γ, where

  1. B1:=B(y;u^(y),e(y))B(ys;u^(y),e(y))).

  2. B2:=U|e(y)(|F(y)||F(ys)|)tς^(ys)|,

  3. B3:=|l^(y;e(y))l^(ys;e(y))|.

From Gronwall’s inequality we have that for t ∈ (0, T), y ∈ Γ, and f ∈ Γf

Fminde(y,f,t)L2(U)2|F(y)|e(y,f,t)L2(U)2|F(y)|e(y,f,0)L2(U)2+2(B1+B2+B3)T

and thus

e(y,f,t)L2(U)21Fmind(|F(y)|e(y,f,0)L2(U)2+2(B1+B2+B3)T). (24)

We will now obtain bounds for E[|F(y)|e(y,f,0)L2(U)2], E[B1], E[B2], and E[B3].

  1. (E[|F(y)|e(y,f,0)L2(U)2]). The first term in equation (24) is bounded as
    |F(y)|e(y,f,0)L2(U)=|F(y)|((u0F)(ys)(u0F)(y))L2(U)2Fmaxdu0W1,(G)χUL2(U)supyΓ,βU|F(ys)F(y)|. (25)
    for all f ∈ Γf and y ∈ Γ. From equation (25) and Lemma 4 (a)
    E[|F(y)|e(y,f,0)L2(U)2]2Fmaxdu0W1,(G)χUL2(U)CT.
  2. (E[B1]) For the second term we have that
    B1:=supt(0,T)|B(y;u^(y,f,t),e(y,f,t))B(ys;u^(y,f,t),e(y,f,t))|supt(0,T)u^(y,f,t)V(u^(y,f,t)V+ς^(ys,f,t)V)supβU,yΓG(y)G(ys).
    From Lemma 4 (c)
    supβU,yΓG(y)G(ys)amaxBTH(Fmax,Fmin,δ˜,d)
    and thus we have
    E[B1]amaxBTH(Fmax,Fmin,δ˜,d)supt(0,T)2E[max{u^(y,f,t)V2,u^(ys,f,t)V2}].
  3. (E[B2]). The third term is bounded as
    B2U|e(y,f,t)(|F(y)||F(ys)|)tζ^(ys,f)|2Fmaxd1Fmin2dBTsupt(0,T)u^(y,f,t)Vtς^(ys,f,t)L2(U).
    By using the Schwartz inequality E[B2] is less or equal to
    2Fmaxd1Fmin2dBTsupt(0,T)(E[u^(y,f,t)V2])1/2(E[tς^(ys,f,t)L2(U)2])1/2.
  4. (E[B3]). The last term
    B3:=|l^(y;e(y,f,t))l^(ys;e(y,f,t))|
    is more complex and it can be bounded by
    |U((fF)(y,f,t)|F(y)|(fF)(ys,f,t)|F(ys)|)e(y,f,t)|+|τTBr0((gNF)(β,y)s(β,y)12(gNF)(β,ys)s(β,ys)12)e(y,f,t)dx|τTBr0((gNF)(β,y)(gNF)(β,ys))s(β,y))12e(y,f,t)+|(gNF)(β,ys)(s(β,y)12s(β,ys)12)e(y,f,t)|dx+U|((fF)(y,f,t)(fF)(ys,f,t))|F(y)|e(y,f,t)|+|(fF)(ys,f,t)(|F(y)||F(ys)|)e(y,f,t)|
    for all t ∈ (0, T), f ∈ Γf and y ∈ Γ. From Lemma 5 (b) and Lemma 7 we have that
    E[τTBr0|(gNF)(β,ys)(s(β,y)12s(β,ys)12)e(y,f,t)|dx+U|(fF)(ys,f,t)(|F(y)||F(ys)|)e(y,f,t)|]Fmaxd1Fmin2dBTsupt(0,T)E[e(y,f,t)V]supt(0,T)fΓf,yΓ(fF)(y,f,t)L2(U)+32(d1)dFmax2d1CT(U)CTDTe(y,f,t)VgNL(GN)BTsupxBr0J˜τ(x)2.BTC(Fmax,Fmin,d,CT(U),CT,DT,gNL(GN),supτT,xBr0J˜τ(x)2)E[e(y,f,t)V]supt(0,T)fΓf,yΓ(fF)(y,f,t)L2(U).
    From Lemma 5 (a) and Lemma 6
    E[τTBr0((gNF)(β,y)(gNF)(β,ys))s(β,y))12e(y,f,t)dx+U|((fF)(y,f,t)(fF)(ys,f,t))|F(y)|e(y,f,t)|]CTC(d,Fmax,CT(U),CT,ST,χUL2(U),gNW1,(GN),supfΓffW1,(G×(0,T)))supt(0,T)E[e(y,f,t)V]

    Note that C refers to some generic non-negative constant with the respective dependen cies.

  5. Combining the bounds for (E[|F(y)|e(y,f,0)L2(U)2]), E[B1], E[B2], E[B3] and inserting them in equation (24) we obtain that
    e(y,f,t)Lρ2(Γ×Γf;L2(U))21BT+2CT.
    The constant 10 depends on the coefficients Fmax,Fmin,d,CT(U),CT,DT,amax,T,δ˜ and
    1. gNL(GN),supt(0,T)E[u^(y,f,t)V],supt(0,T)E[ξ(ys,f,t)V],
    2. supt(0,T)E[tξ(ys,f,t)L2(U)],
    3. supτT,xBr0J˜τ(x)2,supt(0,T)fΓf,yΓ(fF)(y,f,t)L2(U).
    Similarly, 20 depends on the coefficients T, d, Fmax,Fmin,CT(U),CT,ST
    1. χUL2(U),gNW1,(GN),supfΓffW1,(G×(0,T))),u0W1,(G),
    2. supt(0,T)E[e(y,f,t)V].

Remark 5.

Note that for Theorem 3 to be valid, a bound to the terms E[e(y,f,t)V] and E[tξ(ys,f,t)L2(U)] is needed. Clearly,

E[e(y,f,t)V]2max{E[ξ(ys,f,t)V],E[u^(y,f,t)V]}.

By modifying the energy estimates in Chapter 7 [11] to take into account the domain mapping on the reference domain U the terms E[e(y,f,t)V] and E[tξ(ys,f,t)L2(U)] can be bounded.

5.2. Forcing function truncation error (II)

Since Q is a bounded linear functional the error due to (II) is controlled by u^(ys,f,t)u^(ys,g,t)Lρ2(Γ×Γf;L2(U)). Recall that u^(ys,f,t)L2(0,T;V) satisfies the following equation

U|F(ys)|vtu^dβ+B(ys;u^,v)=l^(ys;f,v)vV (26)

for all fΓf and ysΓs, where u^(ys,f,0)=u0. It is clear then that u^(ys,g,t)L2(0,T;V)) satisfies

U|F(ys)|vtu^dβ+B(ys;u^,v)=l^(ys;g,v)vV (27)

for all gΓg and ysΓs, where u^(ys,g,0)=u0.

Theorem 4.

Let e^(ys,f,t):=u^(ys,f,t)u^(ys,g,t),t(0,T),

0<ϵ<amin1FmindFmax2CP(U)2/4

and

I(d,amin,Fmin,Fmax,CP(U),ϵ):=2Fmind[14εaminFmindFmax2CP(U)2]

then

e^(ys,f,t)Lρ2(Γ×Γf;U)T1/2eI(d,amin,Fmin,Fmax,CP(U),ϵ)T/2ϵ1/2(n=Ng+1NfE[cn2(t,fn)])1/2(n=Ng+1Nf(ξnF)(β,ys)Lρ2(Γs;U)2)1/2.
Proof.

Subtract (27) from (26)

U|F(ys)|vte^dβ+B(ys;e^,v)=U((fF)(,ys,f)(fF)(,ys,g))v (28)

vV. Recall that

Ue^|F(ys)|12t(|F(ys)|12e^)=12te^|F(ys)|12L2(U)2.

Let v=e^ and substitute in (28), then

12te^|F(ys)|12L2(U)2+B(ys;e^,e^)=U((fF)(,ys,f)(fF)(,ys,g))e^.

Applying the Poincaré and Cauchy’s inequalities we obtain

Fmind2te^L2(U)2+aminFmindFmax2CP(U)2e^214ϵe^L2(U)2+ϵ(fF)(,ys,f)(fF)(,ys,g))L2(U)2.

From Gronwall’s inequality it follows that

E[e^L2(U)2]TeI(d,amin,Fmin,Fmax,CP(U),ϵ)TϵE[(fF)(,ys,f)(fF)(,ys,g))L2(U)2].

We have that

(fF)(,ys,f)(fF)(,ys,g))L2(U)n=Ng+1Nfcn(t,f)(ξnF)(β,ys)L2(U)n=Ng+1Nf|cn(t,fn)|(ξnF)(β,ys)L2(U)(n=Ng+1NFcn2(t,fn))1/2(n=Ng+1Nf(ξnF)(β,ys)L2(U)2)1/2,

thus

E[(fF)(,ys,f)(fF)(,ys,g))L2(U)2]n=Ng+1NPE[cn2(t,fn)]n=Ng+1Nf(ξnF)(β,ys)Lρ2(Γs;U).2

5.3. Sparse grid error (III)

In this section convergence rates for the isotropic Smolyak sparse grid with Clenshaw Curtis abscissas are derived. The convergence rates can be extended to a larger class of abscissas and anisotropic sparse grids following the same approach.

Given the bounded linear functional Q:L2(U) it follows that

|Q(ys,g,t)Swm,g[Q(ys,g,t)]|Qu^(ys,g,t)Swm,g[u^(ys,g,t)]L2(U)

for all t(0,T),ysΓs and gΓg. The sparse grid operator Swm,g is defined on the domain Γs×Γg. The next step it to bound the term

u^(ys,g,t)Swm,g[u^(ys,g,t)]L2(Γs×Γg;U).

for t(0,T). The error term ϵL2(Γs×Γg;U), where

ϵ:=u^(ys,g,T)Swm,g[u^(ys,g,T)],

is directly affected by (i) the number of interpolation knots η, (ii) the sparse grid formulas (m(i), g(i)), (iii) the level of approximation w of the sparse grid and from (iv) the size of an embedded polyellipse in Θβ×FNs+Ng. Recall that from Theorem 2 the solution u^(ys,g,t) admits an analytic extension in Θβ×FNs+Ng for all t(0,T).

Consider the Bernstein ellipses

En,σn={z;Re(z)=eδn+eδn2cos(θ),Im(z)=eδneδn2sin(θ),θ[0,2π),δσn},

where σn > 0 and n=1,Ns+Ng. From each of these ellipses form the polyellipse Eσ1,,σNs+Ng:=Πi=1Ns+NgEn,σn, such that Eσ1,,σNs+NgΘβ×F. From Theorem 2 the solution u^(ys,g,T) admits an extension Θβ×F.

For given Clenshaw-Curtis or Gaussian abscissas, the isotropic (or anisotropic) Smolyak sparse grid error decays algebraically or sub-exponentially as function of the number of interpolation nodes η and the level of approximation w (see [35, 36]). In the rest of the discussion we concentrate on isotropic sparse grids.

Since for a isotropic sparse grids all the dimensions are considered of equally, the overall convergence rate will be controlled by the smallest width σ^ of the polyellipse, i.e.

σ^minn=1,,Ns+Ngσn.

Then the goal is to choose the largest σ^ such that Eσ1,,σNs+Ng is embedded in Θβ×F. To thus end, for n=1,,Ns, let

Σn:={z;z=y+v,y[1,1],|vn|τn:=β1δ˜}

and

σ^β:=log((β1δ˜)2+1+β1δ˜)>0.

We can now construct a the set Σ:=n=1NsΣn that is embedded in Θβ. By setting σ1=σ2==σNs=σ^β we conclude that Eσ1,,σNgΣΘβ (see Figure 4).

The second step is to form a polyellipse such that Eσ1,,σNgF. This, of course, depends on the size of the region F. For simplicity we assume that σNs+1=σNs+2==σNs+Ng=σ^g, for some constant σ^g>0. The constant σ^g is chosen such that EσNs+1,,σNs+NgF. Finally, the polyellipse Eσ1,,σNs+Ng is embedded in Θβ×F by setting σ^=min{σβ,σg}.

We now establish some notation before providing the final result. Suppose σ:=σ^/2,μ1(N˜):=σ1+log(2N), and μ2(N˜):=log(2)N(1+log(2N˜)) and let

a(δ,σ):=exp(δσ{1σlog2(2)+1log(2)2σ+2(1+1log(2)π2σ)}).

Furthermore, define the following constants:

C˜2(σ):=1+1log2(π2σ)12,δ*(σ):=elog(2)1C˜2(σ),C1(σ,δ):=4C(σ)a(δ,σ)eδσ,μ3(σ,δ*,N˜)=σδ*C˜2(σ)1+2log(2N),C(σn):=2(eσn1),andL(σ,δ*,N˜):=max{1,C1(σ,δ*)}N˜exp(σδ*C˜2(σ))C1(σ,δ*)|1C1(σ,δ*)|,

Suppose that we use a nested CC sparse grid. If w>Ns+Nglog2 then From Theorem 3.11 [36], the following sub-exponential estimate holds:

ϵLρ^2(Γs×Γg;V)L(σ,δ*,Ns+Ng)ημ3(σ,δ*,Ns+Ng)exp[(Ns+Ng)σ21(Ns+Ng)ημ2(Ns+Ng)] (29)

otherwise the following algebraic estimate holds:

ϵLρ^2(Γs×Γg;V)C1(σ,δ*(σ))|1C1(σ,δ*(σ))|max{1,C1(σ,δ*(σ))}Ns+Ngημ1. (30)

Remark 6.

Note that for the convergence rate given by equation (29) there is an implicit assumption that the constant M(u(zs,q,t)):=maxzsΘβ,qFu^(zs,q,t)V, for t(0,T), is equal to one. This assumption was introduced in [36] to simplify the overall presentation of the convergence results. This constant for t(0,T) can be easily reintroduced in equations (29) and (30). However, it will not change the overall convergence rate.

6. Numerical results

In this section numerical examples are executed that elucidate the truncation and Smolyak sparse grid convergence rates for parabolic PDEs. Define the reference domain to be the unit square U := (0, 1) × (0, 1) and is stochastically reshaped according to the following rule:

F(η1,η2)=(η1,(η20.5)(1+ce(ω,η1))+0.5)ifη2>0.5F(η1,η2)=(η1,η2)if0η20.5

where c > 0. This deformation rule only stretches (or compresses) the upper half of the domain and fixes the button half. For the top part of the square, the Dirichlet boundary condition is set to zero. The rest of the border is set to Neumann boundary conditions with uν=1 (See Figure 5 (a)). Furthermore, the diffusion coefficient is set as a(x)=1,xD(ω), and the forcing function f = 0. The stochastic model e(ω,η1) is defined as

eS(ω,η1):=Y1(ω)(πL2)+n=2Nsλnφn(η1)Yn(ω);eF(ω,η1):=n=Ns+1Nλnφn(η1)Yn(ω),

where {Yn}n=1N are independent uniform distributed in (3,3). Note that through a rescaling of the random variables Y1(ω),,YN(ω) the random vector Y(ω):=[Y1(ω),,YN(ω)] can take values on Γ. Thus the analyticity theorems and convergence rates derived in this article are valid.

Figure 5:

Figure 5:

Random shape deformation of the reference U. (a) Reference square domain with Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions. (b) Realization according the deformation rule. (c) Contours of the solution of the parabolic PDE for T = 1 on the stochastic deformed domain realization.

To make comparison between the theoretical decay rates and the numerical results the gradient terms λnsupxUBn(x) are set to decay linearly as nk, where k = 1 or k = 1/2, thus for n=1,,Nletλn:=(πL)1/2n,n, and

φn(η1):={n1sin(n/2πη1Lp)if n is evenn1cos(n/2πη1Lp)if n is odd

With this choice supxUσmax(Bn(x)), for n=1,,N, is bounded by a constant, which depends on N, and gradient of the deformation map decays linearly.

The QoI is defined on the non-stochastic part of the domain D(ω) as

Q(u^(ω,T)):=(0,1)(0,1/2)φ(η1)φ(2η2)u^(η1,η2,ω,T)dη1dη2,

where φ(x):=exp(114(x0.5)2). The chosen QoI Q can, for example, represent the weighed total chemical concentration in the region defined by (0, 1) × (0, 1/2) given uncertainty in the region. Other useful applications include sub-surface aquifers with soil variability, heat transfer, etc.

To solve the parabolic PDE a finite element semi-discrete approximation is used for the spatial domain. For the time evolution an implicit second order trapezoidal method with a step size of td and final time T.

For each realization of the domain D(ω) the mesh is perturbed by the deformation map F. In Figure 5 the original reference domain (a) is shown. An example realization of the deformed domain from the stochastic model and the contours of the solution for the final time T = 1 are shown in Figure 5 (a) & (b). Notice the significant deformation of the stochastic domain.

Remark 7.

For N = 15 dimensions, k = 1 and k = 1/2 the mean E[Q(u^(y))] and variance var[Q(u^(y))] are computed with a dimensional adaptive sparse grid method collocation with 10,000 collocation points and a Chebyshev abscissa [17]. For the linear decay, k = 1, the computed normalized mean value is 0.9846 and variance is 0.0342 (0.1849 std). This indicates that the variance is non-trivial and shows significant variation of the QoI with respect to the domain perturbation.

6.1. Sparse Grid convergence numerical experiment

In this section numerically analyze the convergence rate of the Smolyak sparse grid error without without the truncation error. The purpose is to validate the regularity of the solution with respect the stochastic parameters.

For N = 3, 4, 5 dimensions, the mean E[Q] and variance var[Q] calculated with an isotropic Smolyak sparse grid (Clenshaw-Curtis abscissas) using the software package Sparse Grid Matlab Kit [3]. In addition, for comparison, E[Q] and var[Q] are also calculated for N = 3, 4, 5 using a dimension adaptive sparse grid algorithm from the (Sparse Grid Toolbox V5.1 [17, 29, 28]). The abscissas are set to Chebyshev-Gauss-Lobatto.

In addition the following parameters and experimental conditions are set to:

  1. Let a(β)=1 for all βU and set the stochastic model parameters to L = 19/50, LP = 1, c = 1/2.175, N = 15,

  2. The reference domain is discretized with a triangular mesh. The number of vertices are set in a 513 × 513 grid pattern. Recall that for the computation of the stochastic solution the fixed reference domain numerical method is used with the stochastic matrix G(y). Thus it is not necessary to re-mesh the domain for each perturbation.

  3. The step size is set to td := 1/1000 and final time T := 1.

  4. The QoI Q(u^) is normalized by Q(U ) with respect the reference domain.

In Figure 6, for Ns = 2, 3, 4, the normalized mean and variance errors are shown. Each black marker corresponds to a sparse grid level up to w = 4. For (a) we observe a faster than polynomial convergence rate. Theoretically, the predicted convergence rate should approach sub-exponential. This is not quite clear from the graph as a higher level (w ≥ 5) is needed to confirm the results. However, this places the simulation beyond the computational capabilities of the available hardware. In contrast, for (b), the variance error convergence rate is clearly sub-exponential, as the theory predicts.

Figure 6:

Figure 6:

Isotropic Smolyak sparse grid stochastic collocation convergence rates for N = 2, 3, 4 with k = 1 (linear decay). (a) Mean error: Notice that the convergence rate is faster than polynomial. (b) Variance error: From the graph the convergence rate appears to be subexponential.

Remark 8.

In this work for simplicity we only demonstrate the application of isotropic sparse grids to the stochastic domain problem. However, a significant improvement in error rates can be achieved by using an anisotropic sparse grid. By adapting the number of knots across each dimension to the decay rate of λn, n=0,1,,N a higher convergence rate can be achieved. In particular, if the decay rate of λn is relative fast it will be not necessary to represent all the dimensions of Γ to high accuracy.

6.2. Truncation experiment

The truncation error as a function of Ns is analyzed and compared with respect to Q(u^(y)) for N = 15 dimensions, k = 1 and k = 1/2. The coefficient c is changed to 1/4.35. In Figure 7 the truncation error is plotted for the mean and variance as a function of Ns. The decay is set to linear (k = 1).

Figure 7:

Figure 7:

Truncation error results with linear decay stochastic model i.e. k = 1. (a) From the mean error graph, the truncation error decays quadratically. This is twice the theoretical truncation convergence rate. (b) The variance error also show at least a quadratic convergence rate.

From these plots observe that the convergence rates are close to quadratic, which is at least one order of magnitude higher than the predicted theoretical truncation error rate. In addition, in Figure 8 the mean and variance error are shown for k = 1/2. As observed, the decay rate appears at least linear, which is at least twice the decay rate of the theoretical convergence rate. The numerical results shows that in practice a higher convergence rate is achieved than what the theory predicts.

Figure 8:

Figure 8:

Truncation Error with sqrt decay k = 1/2 of stochastic model coefficients. (a) Mean error. (b) Variance error. In both cases, the mean and variance decay linearly, which at twice the theoretical convergence rate. This result is consistent with the linear decay k = 1 truncation error experiment.

6.3. Forcing function truncation experiment

For the last numerical experiment the decay of the forcing function truncation error (II) is tested with respect to the number of dimensions Ng. The mean and variance errors of Q(g, ys) with respect to Q(f, ys) are compared, where

f(x,f,ys,t)=n=1Nfcn(t,fn)ξn(x,ys),&f(x,g,ys,t)=n=1Ngcn(t,fn)ξn(x,ys),

xD(ω) and Nf > Ng. The maps ξn : D(ω)1, n = 1,...,N, are defined as

ξn(x1,x2):=exp((x1an)2σ)exp((x2bn)2σ),

where σ = 0.001. The coefficients an,bn are given such that ξn are centered in a 4 by 4 grid. Let a:=[14512,712,34]b:=[581724,1924,78], then for i=1,,4 and j=1,,4 let a4*(i1)+j:=a[i],b4*(i1)+j:=b[j]. Furthermore,

  1. For n=1,,Nf, fn are independent and uniformly distributed in (3,3), and cn(t,fn)=fn2/n (linear decay of the coefficients).

  2. The stochastic PDE is solved on the domain D(ω) with a 513 × 513 triangular mesh.

  3. Nf = 12, Ns = 2, Ng = 2, …, 7 and c = 1/4.35.

  4. E[Q(ys,f)] and var[Q(ys,f)] are computed with a dimensional adaptive sparse grid with 15,000 collocation points and a Chebyshev abscissa [17].

  5. For Ng=2,,7E[Q(ys,g)] and var[Q(ys,g)] are calculated with the Sparse Grid Matlab Kit [3]. An isotropic Smolyak sparse grid with Clenshaw-Curtis abscissas is chosen.

By setting the coefficients to cn(t,fn)=fn2/n we have a non-linear mapping from the forcing function to the solution. From Theorem 4 the errors |E[Q(u^(ys,f))]E[Swm,g[Q(u^(ys,g))]]| and |Var[Q(u^(ys,f))]Var[Swm,g[Q(u^(ys,g))]]| decay as

(n=Ng+1NfE[cn2(t,fn)])1/21Ng.

In Figure 9 the error of the mean and variance are plotted as a function of the number of dimensions Ng. The error decay appears to be faster than the theoretically derived rate of ∼ 1/Ng.

Figure 9:

Figure 9:

Forcing function truncation error vs the number of dimensions Ng. The decay of the coefficients cn(t, fn), for n=1,,Nf are set to 1/n. The decay of the (a) Mean truncation error and the (b) Variance truncation error appears to be faster than linear, which is at least twice the forcing function theoretically predicted rate.

7. Conclusions

A detailed mathematical convergence analysis is performed in this article for a Smolyak sparse grid stochastic collocation method for the numerical solution of parabolic PDEs with stochastic domains. The following contributions are achieved in this work:

  • An analysis of the regularity of the solution of the parabolic PDE with respect to the random variables Y1,,YN shows that an analytic extension onto a well defined region Θβ×FN+Nf exists.

  • Error estimates in the energy norm for the solution and the QoI are derived for sparse grids with Clenshaw Curtis abscissas. The derived subexponential convergence rate of the sparse grid is consistent with numerical experiments.

  • A truncation error with respect to the number of random variables is derived. Numerical experiments show a faster convergence rate.

From the numerical experiments and theoretical convergence rates of an isotropic Smolyak sparse grid is efficient for medium size stochastic domain problems. Due to the curse of dimensionality, as shown from the derived theoretical convergence rates, it is impractical for larger dimensional problems. However, the approach described in this paper can be easily broaden to the anisotropic setting [41, 35]. Moreover, new approaches, such as quasi-optimal sparse grids [34], are shown to have exponential convergence.

Figure 3:

Figure 3:

Index sets for Smolyak (SM) sparse grid for N = 2 and w = 3. The Hyperbolic Cross (HC) index set is also shown for N = 2 and w = 9, see [8] for details.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful for the invaluable feedback from the reviewer of this paper. We also appreciate the help and advice from Fabio Nobile and Raul Tempone.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1736392. Research reported in this technical report was supported in part by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) of the National Institutes of Health under award number 1R01GM131409-01.

Appendix

In the proof of Theorem 2, we take derivatives with respect to w and s respectively on (16) and pass derivatives through integration and exchange with other derivatives. In order to do this, we need the ζ to be differentiable with respect to w and s. In the following lemma, we show that under the same assumption as in Theorem 2, if ζL2(0,T;V),tζL2(0,T;V*) solves (16), then there exist a couple of functions ϕL2(0,T;V),tϕL2(0,T;V*) and φL2(0,T;V),tφL2(0,T;V*) (which solves equations (32) and (33) below respectively) such that within the region Θβ×F

wζ=ϕ,sζ=φ.

Remark 9.

For Lemma 8 to be valid extra conditions on f^,g,G,C have to be placed beyond analyticity in Θβ×F that follows from Assumptions 5, 6, 7. Now, extend f^,g,G,C from zΘ to all zN by letting f, g, G, C approach to zero if any Re zi, Imzi,i=1,,n. Note that this extension beyond Θβ does not have to be analytic, thus we are free to choose such an extension. Thus assumption does not affect the uniqueness of analytic extension within the bounded domain Θβ×F.

Lemma 8.

Let ζ,C,v,G,f,g,w,s be defined the same as in Theorem 2. Let C, G, f, g satisfy the assumption in Remark 9. Suppose ζL2(0,T;V),tζL2(0,T;V*) is the unique solution of

UtζTC(z)Tv+ζTG(z)Tvdβ=Uf^(z,q,t)vdβ+τTBr0gvdxinU×(0,T)ζ=ζ0onU×{t=0} (31)

for all vV and ϕL2(0,T;V),tϕL2(0,T;V*) is the unique solution of

UtϕTC(z)Tv+ϕTG(z)Tvdβ=U(tζTwC(z)TvζTwG(z)Tv+wf^(z,q,t)v)dβ+τTBr0wgvdx (32)

in U × (0, T) for all vV and

ϕ=wζ0onU×{t=0}.

Furthermore, if φL2(0,T;V),tφL2(0,T;V*) is the unique solution of

UtφTC(z)Tv+φTG(z)Tvdβ=U(tζTsC(z)TvζTsG(z)Tv+sf^(z,q,t)v)dβ+sd^(z)v+τTBr0sgvdx (33)

in U × (0, T) for all vV and

φ=sζ0onU×{t=0}.

Then we conclude that within the region Θβ×F,ζ is differentiable in w, s in the sense that

wζ=ϕ,sζ=φ.

Proof.

The main strategy of this proof is the application of the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus (FTC) and the Dominated Convergence Theorem (DCT). The existence and uniqueness of the solutions of (31) and (33) are given by Theorem 1 in Section 2, since G(z) is uniformly positive definite then (31) - (33) have a unique solution whenever zΘβ.

We prove wζ=ϕ first. Note that in equations (31) - (33), the gradient is in β direction. Note also that due to Remark 4, we know that Θβ is a bounded set. So for any point (z1,,bzn1,w+is):=(z,w+is)Θβ, we integrate (32) in Re zn direction from to w, we have

w(Utϕ(z,w,s)TC(z,w,s)Tv+tζTwC(z,w,s)Tvdβ)dw+wU(ϕ(z,w,s)TG(z,w,s)Tv+ζTwG(z,w,sz)Tv)dβdw=Uf^(z,q,t)vdβ+τTBr0gvdβ. (34)

Now, compare (34) with (31) and conclude that

UtζTC(z,w,s)Tv+ζTG(z,w,s)Tvdβ=wU(tϕ(z,w,s)TC(z,w,s)Tv+tζTwC(z,w,s)Tv)dβdw+wU(ϕ(z,w,s)TG(z,w,s)Tv+ζTwG(z,w,sz)Tv)dβdw (35)

One choice of ζ such that (35) is satisfied is

ζ(z,w,s)=wϕ(z,w,s)dw. (36)

To check this, we observe that by plugging in the expression (36) and using the First FTC on the first term in the left side can be written as

Ut(wϕ(z,w,s)dw)C(z,w,s)Tvdβ=wω(Ut(wϕ(z,w,s)dw)C(z,w,s)Tvdβ)|w=wdw.

Now, by applying the Second FTC and the DCT to exchange the integral limits with the derivatives t and w we have that

wω(Ut(wϕ(z,w,s)dw)C(z,w,s)Tvdβ)|w=wdw=Uw(tϕ(z,w,s)TC(z,w,s)Tv+tζTwC(z,w,s)Tv)dwdβ,

which is exactly the same as the first term in right side of equation (35). This is also true for the second term on both sides, respectively.

Note that by Remark 9, Ut(wϕ(z,w,s)dw)C(z,w,s)Tvdβ does vanish when w and hence the FTC gives us the desired result.

We now show that this choice is unique. Notice that any choice

ζ(z,w,s)=wϕ(z,w,s)dw+K,

for K satisfies equation (35). Thus we must show that the only choice is K = 0. This follows by the uniqueness of equation (35) by using the standard argument.

Taking derivatives with respect to w on both sides of (36), we conclude that within Θβ×F that

wζ=ϕ.

By the same argument, we conclude also that sζ=φ in Θβ×F.

Footnotes

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