Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 27 (2003) 897903

www.elsevier.com/locate/enganabound

The two-dimensional reaction diffusion Brusselator system:

a dual-reciprocity boundary element solution
Whye-Teong Ang*
Division of Engineering Mechanics, School of Mechanical and Production Engineering, Nanyang Technological University,
50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798

Received 19 August 2002; revised 7 March 2003; accepted 13 March 2003

Abstract
The dual-reciprocity boundary element method is applied for the numerical solution of a class of two-dimensional initial-boundary value
problems governed by a non-linear system of partial differential equations. The system, known as the reaction diffusion Brusselator, arises
in the modeling of certain chemical reaction diffusion processes. Numerical results are presented for some specific problems.
q 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Brusselator system; Dual-reciprocity boundary element method; Dynamic problem

1. Introduction where A; B and a are suitably given constants, f ; g; w; z; p

and q are suitably prescribed functions, C1 and C2 are non-
Of particular interest here is the task of solving intersecting curves such that C1 < C2 C; u=n n7u;


numerically the non-linear system of partial differential v=n n7v and n is the unit normal outward vector to R at



equations the point x;y on C: Refer to Fig. 1.
! The non-linear system (1) arises in the modeling of
u 2 u 2 u
2
B u v 2 A 1u a 2 ; 1 certain chemical reaction diffusion processes which
t x 2 y involve a pair of variable intermediates with input and
! output chemicals whose concentrations are controlled, see
v 2 v 2 v
2
Au 2 u v a 2 ; Refs. [8,10].
t x 2 y Adomian [2] and Wazwaz [13] showed how the
for ux; y; t and vx; y; t in a two-dimensional region R Adomian decomposition method can be applied to solve
bounded by a simple closed curve C subject to the initial- (1) for a solution which satisfies only the initial condition
boundary conditions (2). Twizell et al. [12] gave a finite-difference method for
solving (1) (4) numerically in a rectangular domain subject
ux; y;0; vx; y;0 f x; y; gx; y for x; y [ R 2 to a particular Neumann boundary condition u=n 0 and
and v=n 0 on C:
In the present paper, the boundary element method
ux; y;t; vx; y;t wx; y;t; zx; y;t (DRBEM) is applied for the numerical solution of (1) (4).
3 The partial derivatives of u and v with respect to time t are
for x; y [ C1 and t . 0; approximated using a finite-difference formula. The
  DRBEM is then used in an iterative scheme in which the
u v
; px;y; t; qx;y; t non-linear term u2 v is linearised by superceding it with
n n 4 u
2 v; where u
is the approximation of u from the previous
for x; y [ C2 and t . 0; iteration, to solve for u and v at each consecutive time level.
The proposed method is applicable for solution domains of
* Fax: 65-6791-1859. arbitrary shapes and mixed boundary conditions. It is
E-mail address: mwtang@ntu.edu.sg (W.-T. Ang). applied to solve some specific problems.
0955-7997/03/$ - see front matter q 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0955-7997(03)00059-6
898 W.-T. Ang / Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 27 (2003) 897903

where n1 x; y; n2 x; y is the unit normal vector to the

curve C at the point x; y pointing away from R:
Notice that F as given in Eq. (7) is the well-known
fundamental solution of the two-dimensional Laplace
equation. For an idea on how (5) and (6) can possibly be
derived, one may refer to the monograph by Clements [4].

3. DRBEM

For the DRBEM, we discretize the boundary C into N

straight line (boundary )elements C 1 ; C2 ; ; C N21 and
C N ; where the ith element C i has endpoints xi ; yi and
Fig. 1. A geometrical sketch of the problem. xi1 ; yi1 : [We take x1 ; y1 ; x2 ; y2 ; ; xN21 ;
yN21 and xN ; yN as N well-spaced out distinct points
arranged consecutively in a counter-clockwise direction on
The DRBEM was originally proposed by Brebbia and C and we define xN1 ; yN1 x1 ; y1 :
Nardini [3] for the numerical solution of dynamic problems For a simple approximation, let
in solid mechanics. The method has now been successfully
extended to a wide range of problems in engineering, such 9
ux; y; t . U i t >
>
as those involving diffusion processes, inhomogeneous >
>
>
=
media and non-linearity. For some examples of these vx; y; t . V i t
problems, see Refs. [1,7,11,15] and other references therein. for x; y [ Ci ; 8
ux; y; t=n . P t >
>
>
i
>
>
i ;
vx; y; t=n . Q t
2. Integral equations
where U i t; V i t; Pi t and Qi t are functions of time,
From the differential equations in Eq. (1), we derive the i.e. the functions u and v and their normal derivatives are
integral equations assumed to be spatially invariant over a boundary element.
lj; huj; h; t Using (8) together with C . C1 < C2 < <
  C N21
< CN ; we replace (5) and (6) approximately by

a21 ux; y; t 2 B 2 u2 v A 1u
R t

Fx; y; j; hdxdy ux; y; tGx; y; j; h 5 lj; huj; h;t
 
21
C
 a ux;y;t2B2u vA1u Fx;y; j; hdxdy
2
R t
2 Fx; y; j; h ux; y; t dsx; y X N
n
U j t Gx;y; j; hdsx;y
C j
and j1
X
N
lj; huj; h; t 2 Pj t Fx;y; j; hdsx;y 9
  C j
21 j1
a vx; y; t 2 Au u v Fx; y; j; hdxdy
2
R t

vx; y; tGx; y; j; h and
C


2Fx; y; j; h vx; y; t dsx; y; 6 lj; hvj; h;t
n  

where lj; h 0 if j; h  R < C; lj; h 1 if j; h [ a21 vx;y;t2Auu2 v Fx;y; j; hdxdy
R t
R; 0 , lj; h , 1 if lj; h [ C and
XN
1 V j t Gx;y; j; hdsx;y
Fx; y; j; h lnx 2 j2 y 2 h2 ; 7 j1 C j
4p
X
N
n x; yx 2 j n2 x; yy 2 h 2 Qj t Fx;y; j; hdsx;y: 10
Gx; y; j; h 1 ; C j
2px 2 j2 y 2 h2  j1
 W.-T. Ang / Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 27 (2003) 897903 899

To deal with the domain integrals in Eqs. (9) and (10), we where
apply the dual-reciprocity method (DRM) introduced by
Brebbia and Nardini [3] and Partridge and Brebbia [9]. Cj j; h lj; huj j; h Fx;y; j; hbj x;ydsx;y
For the DRM, we choose N L collocation points in the C
region R < C (L is a positive integer and recall that N is the
j
number of boundary elements). The collocation points are 2 Gx;y; j; hu x;ydsx;y; 15
denoted by j1 ; h1 ; j2 ; h2 ; ; jNL21 ; hNL21 C
and jNL ; hNL : For convenience, we take the first N
1 1
collocation points to be the midpoints of the boundary uj x;y x2 jj 2 y2 hj 2 x2 jj 2
elements, i.e. jn ; hn is the midpoint of C n for n 4 16
1; 2; ; N: 1
y2 hj 2 2 x2 jj 2 y2 hj 2 5=2 ;
We then make the approximations 25

  j
bj x;y n1 x;y u x;yn2 x;y uj x;y:
a 21
ux; y; t 2 u2 v A 1u x y
t
Eqs. (9) (11), (13) and (14) may be used to obtain
X
NL
. mj tsj x; y; 11 1
lji ; hi U i t 2 a21 Blji ; hi ji 2
j1 2
X  d n
NL
a21 U t A 1U n t
  NL
X j n1
dt
 NL
a 21 2
vx; y; t 2 Au u v . f tsj x; y; X
t j1 2 U n t2 V n t bjn Cj ji ; hi
j1
j j N 
X 
where m and f are yet unknown parameters and 1
U t a21 Bjj 2
j

j1
2
sj x; y 1 x 2 jj 2 y 2 hj 2 x 2 jj 2
Gx; y; ji ; hi dsx; y
j 2 3=2 C j
y 2 h  12
X
N
2 Pj t a21 Bjj nj
1 
for j 1; 2; ; N L: j1

The local interpolating functions sj x; y are those Fx; y; ji ; hi dsx;y
C j
proposed in Ref. [14].
for i 1;2; ;N L 16
With (11), we can express the domain integrals in Eqs.
(9) and (10) as and


 X
NL
d n
a 21
ux;y;t2B2u vA1u Fx;y; j; hdxdy
2 lji ; hi V i t a21 V t 2 AU n t
R t n1
dt
X
NL  NL
X
1
. mj tCj j; h2 a21 Blj; hj2 U n t2 V n t bjn Cj ji ; hi
j1
2 j1

2 a21 B xn1 x;yFx;y; j; h X
N
V j t Gx; y; ji ; hi dsx; y
C j1 C j
1 X
N
2 x2 Gx;y; j; hdsx;y 13
2 2 Qj t Fx; y; ji ; hi dsx; y
j1 C j

and for i 1;2; ; N L; 17

  where nj j
1 ; n2  is the unit normal vector to the boundary

a 21
vx;y;t2Auu2 v Fx;y; j; hdxdy element C pointing away from R; U n t ujn ; hn ; t
j
t
R
and V n t vjn ; hn ; t (for n 1; 2; ; N L), and bij  is
X
NL the inverse of aij  with aij sj ji ; hi :
. fj tCj j; h; 14 Notice that in deriving Eqs. (16) and (17) we collocate
j1 Eq. (11) by letting x; y be given by jn ; hn for
900 W.-T. Ang / Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 27 (2003) 897903

n 1; 2; ; N L and invert the resulting linear equations and

to obtain mj t and fj t (for j 1; 2; ; N L).     
1 i i 1 i 1 1
Now, (16) and (17) constitute a system of 2N L non- lj ; h V t Dt V i t 2 Dt
linear differential equations in 2N L unknown functions 2 2 2 2
( n
of t: The unknown functions are given by U n t; V n t X
NL
V t 1
Dt 2 V n
t 2 1
Dt
a21 2 2
for n N 1; N 2; ; N L; and either U j t; V j t N1
Dt
or Pj t; Qj t for j 1; 2; ; N:     
1 n 1 n 1
The non-linear system is solved approximately using an 2 A U t Dt U t 2 Dt
2 2 2
iterative scheme as described below.     )
For n 1; 2; ; N L; we make the approximation 1
n 2 n 1 n 1
U t V t Dt V t 2 Dt
2 2 2
1
U n t . 1
2 U n t 1
2 Dt U n t 2 Dt; X
NL
2 bjn Cj ji ; hi
j1
1
V n t . 1
V n t 1
Dt V n t 2 Dt; XN     
2 2 2 1 j 1 1
18 V t Dt V j t 2 Dt
2 2 2
d n U n t 1
Dt 2 U n t 2 1
Dt j1
U t . 2 2
;
dt Dt Gx; y; ji ; hi dsx; y
C j
d n V n t 1
Dt 2 V n t 2 1
Dt X
N
V t . 2 2
:
dt Dt 2 Qj t Fx;y; ji ; hi dsx;y
j1 C j
The non-linear term U n t2 V n t in Eqs. (16) and (17) for i 1;2; ;N L: 21
is approximately linearised using
n 2 n
Now if we assume U n t 2 12 Dt;V n t 2 12 Dt n
U t V t 1;2; ;N L are known, then Eqs. (20) and (21) constitute
a system of 2N L linear algebraic equations containing
. 1
n t2 V n t
U 1
Dt V n t 2 1
Dt; 19
2 2 2 2N L unknowns given by U m t 12 Dt; V m t 12 Dt
for m N 1;N 2; ;N L; and either U i t 12 Dt
where U
n t is given either by a known approximation of 1
n V i t Dt or Pi t;Qi t [not both] for i 1; 2;; N:
U t or the boundary condition (3) (if it is applicable). 2
Note the presence of U
n t which is given by either a
With Eqs. (18) and (19), we find that Eqs. (16) and (17)
known approximation of U n t or by the boundary
give rise to:
condition (3). We can apply Eqs. (20) and (21) to find the
     unknowns at time t 2k 2 1Dt=2 for k 1; 2;; as
1 i i 1 1
lj ; h U i t Dt U i t 2 Dt follows.
2 2 2
1 21 Begin a given time level t 2k 2 1Dt=2 by calculating
2 a Blji ; hi ji 2 U
n t U n t 2 12 Dt: With this, we can solve Eqs. (20)
2 (
X U n t 1 Dt 2 U n t 2 1 Dt
NL and (21) as a system of linear algebraic equations for
a 21 2 2 U m t 12 Dt; V m t 12 Dt for m N 1; N
n1
Dt 2; ; N L; and for either U i t 12 Dt; V i t 12 Dt or
    
1 n 1 n 1 Pi t; Qi t [whichever is not known] for i 1; 2; ; N;
A 1 U t Dt U t 2 Dt
2 2 2 assuming that U n t 2 12 Dt; V n t 2 12 Dt are known.
    ) Re-compute U
n t using
1
n 2 n 1 n 1
2 U t V t Dt V t 2 Dt
2 2 2 U
n t 1
U n t 1
Dt U n t 2 1
Dt; 22
2 2 2
X
NL
bjn Cj ji ; hi where U n t 12 Dt is either just obtained recently from
j1 solving Eqs. (20) and (21) or from the boundary condition
X
N       (3). Solve Eqs. (20) and (21) with the re-computed value of
1 1j j 1 21 j 2
U t Dt U t 2 Dt a Bj U
n t: We can iterate to and fro calculating U
n t using
j1
2 2 2
Eq. (22) and solving (20) and (21), until all the unknown
Gx;y; ji ; hi dsx;y quantities converge to within a prescribed number of
C j significant figures, i.e. a predictor corrector approach is
X
N adopted here. Once the prescribed convergence is achieved,
2 Pj t a21 Bjj nj
1  Fx; y; ji ; hi dsx; y we can move on to the following time level.
j1 C j
For the setting up of the system of linear algebraic
for i 1; 2;; N L 20 equations, the line integrals over C j in Eqs. (20) and (21)
 W.-T. Ang / Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 27 (2003) 897903 901

have to be evaluated. Details on the computation of these The numerical values of u; v at the point (0.40, 0.60)
integrals may be found in Refs. [5,6]. and at various time levels, as obtained using M 10 and
20, are compared with the exact values from Eq. (25) in
Table 1. [The given numerical values are those obtained
4. Specific problems after six iterations between calculating U
n t using Eq.
(22) and solving Eqs. (20) and (21).] The numerical
Problem 1. For a specific test problem, consider solving values of u; v show an overall improvement in accuracy
the system when M is doubled (i.e. when the number of boundary
! elements and collocation points is increased and the
u 1 2 u 2 u
2
u v 2 2u 2 ; 23 time-step is halved).
t 4 x 2 y Problem 2. Solve
! !
v 1 2 v 2 v u 3 1 2 u 2 u
u2u v2
2 ; 2
1u v2 u 2 ; 26
t 4 x 2 y t 2 500 x2 y
in the region R {x; y : x2 y2 , 1; x . 0; y . 0} sub- !
v 1 2 1 2 v 2 v
ject to the initial-boundary conditions u2u v 2
t 2 500 x2 y
ux; y; 0; vx; y; 0 exp2x 2 y; expx y
24 in the region R {x; y : 0 , x , 1; 0 , y , 1} subject to
for x; y [ R;  
1 2 1 1 1
     ux; y; 0; vx; y; 0 x 2 x3 ; y2 2 y3
t t 2 3 2 3 27
u0; y; t; v0; y; t exp 2 2 y ; exp y
2 2
for x; y [ R;
for 0 , y , 1; t . 0;  
u v
; 0; 0 at the points 0; y and 1; y for 0
x x
    
t t 28
ux; 0; t; vx; 0; t exp 2 2 x ; exp x , y , 1 and t . 0;
2 2  
u v
; 0; 0 at the points x; 0 and x; 1 for 0
for 0 , x , 1; t . 0; y y
 
u v
; x y , x , 1 and t . 0: 29
n n
     For m; n 1; 2; ; M 2 1 (where M is a positive integer
t t greater than 1), form the points m1 ; n1 with 1 1=M;
 2exp 2 2 x 2 y ; exp xy
2 2 and take them as collocation points for the DRBEM. The
endpoints of the boundary elements are selected to be given
for x2 y2 1; t . 0:
by xk1 ; yk1 0; 1 2 k2 ; ; xk12M ; yk12M
It is an easy matter to verify by direct substitution that k2 ; 0xk14M ; yk14M 1; k2 and xk1 ; yk1
Eqs. (23) and (24) are satisfied by 1 2 k2 ; 1 for k 0; 1; ; 2M 2 1; where 2
     1=2M: (Thus, N 8M; i.e. there are 8M boundary
t t
u; v exp 2 2 x 2 y ; exp xy : 25 elements and 8M M 2 12 collocation points.) As in
2 2
the test problem above, the time-step Dt is chosen to be
For the purpose of obtaining some numerical results given by Dt 31 :
for this particular problem, the interior collocation
points, the endpoints of the boundary elements and
the time-step for the DRBEM are chosen as follows. For Table 1
m; n 1; 2; ; M 2 1 (where M is a positive integer greater A comparison of the numerical and the exact values of u; v at various time
than 1), form the points m1 ; n1 with 1 1=M; and t at the point (0.40, 0.60)
take all those points that lie inside the domain solution
T M 10 M 20 Exact
(inside the quarter circle) as interior collocation points. The
endpoints of the boundary elements are selected to be given 0.30 (0.3168, 3.153) (0.3166, 3.157) (0.3166, 3.158)
by xk1 ; yk1 0; 1 2 k2 ; ; xk12M ; yk12M 0.60 (0.2724, 3.660) (0.2725, 3.667) (0.2725, 3.669)
k2 ; 0 and xk14M ; yk14M cospk2 =2; sin 0.90 (0.2345, 4.250) (0.2345, 4.260) (0.2346, 4.263)
pk2 =2 for k 0; 1; ; 2M 2 1; where 2 1=2M: 1.20 (0.2016, 4.939) (0.2018, 4.950) (0.2019, 4.953)
(Thus, N 6M; i.e. there are 6M boundary elements.) 1.50 (0.1739, 5.735) (0.1737, 5.751) (0.1738, 5.755)
1.80 (0.1489, 6.670) (0.1495, 6.681) (0.1496, 6.686)
The time-step Dt is chosen to be given by Dt 31 :
902 W.-T. Ang / Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 27 (2003) 897903
Fig. 2. Graphs of u0:50; 0:50; t against time t for Problem 2.
We observe that the numerical values of u and v at all the
collocation points seem to approach 1 and 1/2, respectively,
as time t increases. This is consistent with the observation of
Twizell et al. [12], i.e. if u=n; v=n 0; 0 on the
boundary of the solution domain and if the diffusion
coefficient a in Eq. (1) is small, we may expect the solution
u; v to approach B; A=B as t increases. (In Eq. (26), A
1=2; B 1 and a 1=500:)
For some typical numerical results, in Figs. 2 and 3,
we plot the numerical values of u0:50; 0:50; t and
v0:50; 0:50; t obtained using M 8 and 16 against time
t (t [ [0, 5.250]). The iteration between calculating
U
n t using Eq. (22) and solving (20) and (21) is
stopped when all the numerical values of u and v at
various selected points converge to at least four
significant figures. At each time level, the number of
iterations used is less than 6.
The numerical results obtained using M 8 agree to at
least two significant figures with those calculated using
M 16; i.e. convergence is observed when the number of
Fig. 3. Graphs of v0:50; 0:50; t against time t for Problem 2.
collocation points and boundary elements is increased.
In Figs. 2 and 3, the difference between the two sets of
numerical values (obtained using M 8 and 16) is
graphically almost indistinguishable. From the graphs, it is
apparent that u; v ! 1; 1=2 as t ! 1:
5. Conclusion
A time-stepping DRBEM is described and successfully
implemented on the computer for the numerical solution of
two-dimensional initial-boundary value problems governed
by the non-linear Brusselator system which arises in the
modeling of chemical reaction diffusion processes. At
each time level, a rather efficient iterative scheme is
introduced to deal with the non-linear terms in the
Brusselator system.
Two specific problems are solved using the method. In
the first problem, the numerical results obtained show good
agreement with the exact solution. There is no known
analytical solution for the second problem. However, the
numerical solution exhibits the expected behaviour at large
time t: In both problems, convergence is observed in the
numerical results as the number of collocation points and
boundary elements is increased and as the time-step is
reduced correspondingly.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Dr A. B. Gumel of the
Department of Mathematics at the University of Manitoba,
Canada (previously at Brunel University, UK) for bringing
to attention the Brusselator system and for providing a
reprint of the work by Twizell et al. [12].
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