Discretization of the Burgers' equation as a port-Hamiltonian system

Abstract

The numerical simulation of the inviscid Burgers' equation is often hindered by spurious oscillations near discontinuities. To mitigate this issue, a viscous term can be introduced, leading to the viscous Burgers' equation. In this work, port-Hamiltonian formulations for both the inviscid and the viscous Burgers' equations are proposed, enabling a representation that incorporates both convective and dissipative effects. Boundary control and observation are naturally handled within this framework. Applying a dedicated finite element method, a finite-dimensional port-Hamiltonian system is derived. The relationship between time step, spatial resolution, and viscosity required to achieve numerical stability is analyzed. Numerical experiments validate the effectiveness of the approach.