The Korteweg-de Vries equation and its symmetry-preserving discretization

Abstract

The Korteweg-de Vries equation is one of the most important nonlinear evolution equations in the mathematical sciences. In this article invariant discretization schemes are constructed for this equation both in the Lagrangian and in the Eulerian form. We also propose invariant schemes that preserve the momentum. Numerical tests are carried out for all invariant discretization schemes and related to standard numerical schemes. We find that the invariant discretization schemes give generally the same level of accuracy as the standard schemes with the added benefit of preserving Galilean transformations which is demonstrated numerically as well.