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The discrete adjoint method for high-order time-stepping methods

University of British Columbia

This thesis examines the derivation and implementation of the discrete adjoint method for several time-stepping methods. Our results are important for gradient-based numerical optimization in the context of large-scale model calibration problems that are constrained by nonlinear time-dependent PDEs. To this end, we discuss finding the gradient and the action of the Hessian of the data misfit function with respect to three sets of parameters: model parameters, source parameters and the initial condition. We also discuss the closely related topic of computing the action of the sensitivity matrix on a vector, which is required when performing a sensitivity analysis. The gradient and Hessian of the data misfit function with respect to these parameters requires the derivatives of the misfit with respect to the simulated data, and we give the procedures for computing these derivatives for several data misfit functions that are of use in seismic imaging and elsewhere. The methods we consider can be divided into two categories, linear multistep (LM) methods and Runge-Kutta (RK) methods, and several variants of these are discussed. Regular LM and RK methods can be used for ODE systems arising from the semi-discretization of general nonlinear time-dependent PDEs, whereas implicit-explicit and staggered variants can be applied when the PDE has a more specialized form. Exponential time-differencing RK methods are also discussed. The implementation of the associated adjoint time-stepping methods is discussed in detail. Our motivation is the application of the discrete adjoint method to high-order time-stepping methods, but the approach taken here does not exclude lower-order methods. All of the algorithms have been implemented in MATLAB using an object-oriented design and are written with extensibility in mind. For exponential RK methods it is illustrated numerically that the adjoint methods have the same order of accuracy as their corresponding forward methods, and for linear PDEs we give a simple proof that this must always be the case. The applicability of some of the methods developed here to pattern formation problems is demonstrated using the Swift-Hohenberg model.

Text

2017-01-21

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/60285

Mathematics

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/