Why summation by parts is not enough

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Glaubitz, Jan, Iske, Armin, Lampert, Joshua, Öffner, Philipp
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Glaubitz, Jan
Iske, Armin
Lampert, Joshua
Öffner, Philipp
author_facet Glaubitz, Jan
Iske, Armin
Lampert, Joshua
Öffner, Philipp
contents We investigate the construction and performance of summation-by-parts (SBP) operators, which offer a powerful framework for the systematic development of structure-preserving numerical discretizations of partial differential equations. Previous approaches for the construction of SBP operators have usually relied on either local methods or sparse differentiation matrices, as commonly used in finite difference schemes. However, these methods often impose implicit requirements that are not part of the formal SBP definition. We demonstrate that adherence to the SBP definition alone does not guarantee the desired accuracy, and we identify conditions for SBP operators to achieve both accuracy and stability. Specifically, we analyze the error minimization for an augmented basis, discuss the role of sparsity, and examine the importance of nullspace consistency in the construction of SBP operators. Furthermore, we show how these design criteria can be integrated into a recently proposed optimization-based construction procedure for function space SBP (FSBP) operators on arbitrary grids. Our findings are supported by numerical experiments that illustrate the improved accuracy for the numerical solution using the proposed SBP operators.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_10786
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Why summation by parts is not enough
Glaubitz, Jan
Iske, Armin
Lampert, Joshua
Öffner, Philipp
Numerical Analysis
65N12, 65D25
We investigate the construction and performance of summation-by-parts (SBP) operators, which offer a powerful framework for the systematic development of structure-preserving numerical discretizations of partial differential equations. Previous approaches for the construction of SBP operators have usually relied on either local methods or sparse differentiation matrices, as commonly used in finite difference schemes. However, these methods often impose implicit requirements that are not part of the formal SBP definition. We demonstrate that adherence to the SBP definition alone does not guarantee the desired accuracy, and we identify conditions for SBP operators to achieve both accuracy and stability. Specifically, we analyze the error minimization for an augmented basis, discuss the role of sparsity, and examine the importance of nullspace consistency in the construction of SBP operators. Furthermore, we show how these design criteria can be integrated into a recently proposed optimization-based construction procedure for function space SBP (FSBP) operators on arbitrary grids. Our findings are supported by numerical experiments that illustrate the improved accuracy for the numerical solution using the proposed SBP operators.
title Why summation by parts is not enough
topic Numerical Analysis
65N12, 65D25
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.10786