Chapter 08.

04
Runge-Kutta 4th Order Method for Ordinary
Differential Equations-More Examples
Computer Engineering
Example 1
A rectifier-based power supply requires a capacitor to temporarily store power when the
rectified waveform from the AC source drops below the target voltage. To properly size this
capacitor a first-order ordinary differential equation must be solved. For a particular power
supply, with a capacitor of 150 μF , the ordinary differential equation to be solved is

dv(t ) 1 
  18 cos120  t    2  v t   
  0.1  max ,0 
dt 150  10  6 
  0.04 

v (0)  0

Using the Runge-Kutta 4th order method, find voltage across the capacitor at t  0.00004 s .
Use step size h  0.00002 s .
Solution
dv 1 
  18 cos120  t    2  v  
  0.1  max ,0 
dt 150  10  6 
  0.04 

1 
  18 cos120  t    2  v  
f  t, v   0.1  max ,0 
150  10 6 
  0.04 

1
vi 1  vi  k1  2 k 2  2 k 3  k 4  h
6
For i  0 , t 0  0 , v 0  0
k1  f  t 0 , v 0 
 f  0,0 
1 
  18 cos120  0    2   0   
  0.1  max ,0 
150  10  6 
  0.04 

1
   0.1  max  400,0
150  10 6
1
   0.1  400
150  10 6
 2.6660  10 6

08.05.1
08.05.2 Chapter 08.05

 1 1 
k 2  f  t 0  h, v 0  k 1 h 
 2 2 
 f  0   0.00002 ,0   2.6660  106 0.00002 
 1 1 
 2 2 
 f  0.00001,26.660
1 
  18 cos120  0.00001   2   26.660  
  0.1  max ,0 
150  10 6 
  0.04 

1
   0.1  max   266.50,0
150  10 6
1
   0.1  266.50
150  10 6
 666.67
 1 1 
k 3  f  t 0  h, v 0  k 2 h 
 2 2 
 1 1 
 f  0   0.00002 ,0    666.67  0.00002 
 2 2 
 f  0.00001,0.0066667 
1 
  18 cos120  0.00001   2    0.0066667    
  0.1  max  ,0  
150  10  6 
  0.04 
1
   0.1  max 400.16,0
150  10 6
1
   0.1  400.16
150  10 6
 2.6671  106
k 4  f  t 0  h, v 0  k 3 h 
 
 f 0  0.00002,0  2.6671 10 6 0.00002  
 f  0.00002 , 53.342
1 
  18 cos120  0.00002   2   53.342  
  0.1  max ,0 
150  10 6 
  0.04 

1
   0.1  max  933.56,0
150  10 6
1
   0.1  0
150  10 6
 666.67
1
v1  v 0 ( k1  2 k 2  2 k 3  k 4 ) h
6
 0   2.6660  106  2  666.67  2 2.6671  106     666.67 0.00002
1
6
1

 0  7.9982  10 6 0.00002
6

 26.661 V
Runge-Kutta 4th Order Method for ODE-More Examples: Computer Engineering 08.05.3

v1 is the approximate voltage at

t  t1  t 0  h  0  0.00002  0.00002
v  0.00002   v1  26.661 V
For i  1, t1  0.00002, v1  26.661
k1  f  t1 , v1 
 f  0.00002,26.661
1 
  18 cos120  0.00002   2   26.661  
  0.1  max ,0 
150  10 6 
  0.04 

1
   0.1  max  266.51,0
150  10 6
1
   0.1  0
150  10 6
 666.67
 1 1 
k 2  f  t1  h, v1  k1 h 
 2 2 
 1 1 
 f  0.00002   0.00002 ,26.661    666.67  0.00002 
 2 2 
 f  0.00003,26.654 
1 
  18 cos120  0.00003   2   26.654  
  0.1  max ,0 
150  10 6 
  0.04 

1
   0.1  max  266.35,0
150  10 6
1
   0.1  0
150  10 6
 666.67
 1 1 
k 3  f  t1  h, v1  k 2 h 
 2 2 
 1 1 
 f  0.00002   0.00002 ,26.661    666.67  0.00002 
 2 2 
 f  0.00003,26.654 
1 
  18 cos120  0.00003   2   26.654  
  0.1  max ,0 
150  10 6 
  0.04 

1
   0.1  max  266.35,0
150  10 6
1
   0.1  0
150  10 6
 666.67
k 4  f  t1  h, v1  k 3 h 
 f  0.00002   0.00002  ,26.661    666.67  0.00002 
 f  0.00003,26.647 
08.05.4 Chapter 08.05

1 
  18 cos120  0.00003   2   26.634  
  0.1  max ,0 
150  10 6 
  0.04 


1
   0.1  max  265.87,0
150  10 6
1
   0.1  0
150  10 6
 666.67

1
v 2  v1  ( k1  2 k 2  2 k 3  k 4 ) h
6
1
 26.661    666.67  2  666.67   2  666.67     666.67   0.00002
6
1
 26.661    4000.0 0.00002
6
 26.647 V
v 2 is the approximate voltage at t  t 2
t 2  t1  h = 0.00002  0.00002  0.00004 s
v .00004  v 2  26.647 V

Figure 1 compares the exact solution of v 0.00004   15.974 V with the numerical solution
using Runge-Kutta 4th order method step size of h  0.00002 s .
Runge-Kutta 4th Order Method for ODE-More Examples: Computer Engineering 08.05.5

Figure 1 Comparison of Runge-Kutta 4th order method with exact solution for
different step sizes.

Table 1 and Figure 2 shows the effect of step size on the value of the calculated temperature
at t  0.00004 s .

Table 1 Value of voltage at time, t  0.00004 s for different step sizes.

Step size, v 0.00004  Et |t | %

h
0.00004 53.335 37.361 233.89
0.00002 26.647 10.673 66.817
0.00001 15.986 0.012299 0.076996
0.000005 15.975 0.00050402 0.0031552
0.0000025 15.976 0.0015916 0.0099639
08.05.6 Chapter 08.05

Figure 2 Effect of step size in Runge-Kutta 4th order method.

In Figure 3, we are comparing the exact results with Euler’s method (Runge-Kutta 1 st order
method), Heun’s method (Runge-Kutta 2nd order method) and Runge-Kutta 4th order method.
Runge-Kutta 4th Order Method for ODE-More Examples: Computer Engineering 08.05.7

Figure 3 Comparison of Runge-Kutta methods of 1st, 2nd, and 4th order.