ORDINARY DIFF EQNS

Runge 2nd Order Method

Authors: Autar Kaw, Charlie Barker

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Transforming Numerical Methods Education for STEM
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 Runge-Kutta 2nd Order
Method

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 Runge-Kutta 2nd Order
Method
dy
For  f ( x, y ), y (0)  y0
dx

Runge Kutta 2nd order method is given by

yi 1  yi  a1k1  a 2 k 2 h

where

k1  f xi , yi 
k2  f xi  p1h, yi  q11k1h 

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 Heun’s Method
Heun’s method
y
Slope  f xi  h, yi  k1h 

Here a2=1/2 is
1 yi+1, predicted
a chosen
1
2 Slope  f xi , yi 
p1 1
1
q11 1 Average Slope   f xi  h, yi  k1h   f xi , yi 
2
yi

resulting in
1 1 
yi 1  yi   k1  k2  h
2 2  xi xi+1
x

where
Figure 1 Runge-Kutta 2nd order method (Heun’s method)
k1  f xi , y i 
k 2  f xi  h, y i  k1 h 

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 Midpoint Method
Here a2 1 is chosen, giving

a1 0
1
p1 
2
1
q11 
2
resulting in
yi 1  yi  k2 h

where

k1  f xi , yi 
 1 1 
k 2  f  x i  h , y i  k1 h 
 2 2 

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 Ralston’s Method
Here a2  2 is chosen, giving
3
1
a1 
3
3
p1 
4
3
q11 
4
resulting in
1 2 
yi 1  yi   k1  k 2  h
3 3 
where
k1  f xi , yi 
 3 3 
k 2  f  xi  h, yi  k1h 
 4 4 
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 How to write Ordinary
Differential Equation
How does one write a first order differential equation in the form of

dy
 f x, y 
dx

Example
dy
 2 y 1.3e  x , y 0  5
dx
is rewritten as
dy
1.3e  x  2 y, y 0  5
dx
In this case

f x, y  1.3e  x  2 y
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 Example
A ball at 1200K is allowed to cool down in air at an ambient temperature
of 300K. Assuming heat is lost only due to radiation, the differential
equation for the temperature of the ball is given by
d
 2.2067 10  12  4  8110 8 , 0 1200 K
dt

Find the temperature at t 480 seconds using Heun’s method. Assume a step size of
h 240 seconds.
d
dt

 2.2067 10  12  4  81108 
f t ,   2.2067 10  12  4  81108 
1 1 
 i 1  i   k1  k 2  h
2 2 
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 Solution
Step 1: i 0, t0 0,  0  (0) 1200K

k1  f t0 ,  o  k 2  f t0  h,  0  k1h 

 f 0,1200  f 0  240,1200   4.5579240

 2.2067 10  12 12004  81108   f 240,106.09
 4.5579 
 2.2067 10  12 106.09 4  81108 
0.017595
1 1 
1  0   k1  k 2  h
2 2 
1 1 
1200    4.5579  0.017595  240
2 2 
1200   2.2702 240
655.16 K
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 Solution Cont
Step 2: i 1, t1 t 0  h 0  240 240,1 655.16 K
k1  f t1 , 1  k 2 f t1  h, 1  k1h 
 f 240,655.16  f 240  240,655.16   0.38869 240 
 f 480,561.87 

 2.2067 10  12 655.16 4  81108 
 0.38869

 2.2067 10  12 561.87 4  81108 
 0.20206

1 1 
 2 1   k1  k 2  h
2 2 
1 1 
655.16    0.38869  0.20206 240
2 2 
655.16   0.29538240
584.27 K
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 Solution Cont

The exact solution of the ordinary differential equation is given by

the solution of a non-linear equation as
  300
0.92593 ln  1.8519 tan  1 0.0033333   0.22067 10 3 t  2.9282
  300

The solution to this nonlinear equation at t=480 seconds is

 (480) 647.57 K

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 Comparison with exact
results
1200

Exact h=120
Temperature, θ(K)

800

h=240
400
h=480

0
0 100 200 300 400 500

-400
Time, t(sec)

Figure 2. Heun’s method results for different step sizes

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 Effect of step size
Table 1. Temperature at 480 seconds as a function of step size, h

Step size, h (480) Et |єt|%

480 −393.87 1041.4 160.82

240 584.27 63.304 9.7756
120 651.35 −3.7762 0.58313
60 649.91 −2.3406 0.36145
30 648.21 −0.63219 0.097625

 (480) 647.57 K (exact)

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 Effects of step size on Heun’s
Method
800
Temperature, θ(480)

600

400

200

0
0 100 200 300 400 500
-200 Step size, h

-400

Figure 3. Effect of step size in Heun’s method

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 Comparison of Euler and
Runge-Kutta 2nd Order
Methods
Table 2. Comparison of Euler and the Runge-Kutta methods

(480)
Step size,
h Euler Heun Midpoint Ralston

480 −987.84 −393.87 1208.4 449.78

240 110.32 584.27 976.87 690.01
120 546.77 651.35 690.20 667.71
60 614.97 649.91 654.85 652.25
30 632.77 648.21 649.02 648.61

 (480) 647.57 K (exact)

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 Comparison of Euler and
Runge-Kutta 2nd Order
Methods

Table 2. Comparison of Euler and the Runge-Kutta methods

t %
Step size,
h
Euler Heun Midpoint Ralston

480 252.54 160.82

86.612 30.544
240 82.964 9.7756 50.851 6.5537
120 15.566 0.58313 6.5823 3.1092
60 5.0352 0.36145 1.1239 0.72299
0.22353 0.15940
30 2.2864 0.097625

 (480) 647.57 K (exact)

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 Comparison of Euler and
Runge-Kutta 2nd Order
Methods
1200

1100
θ(K)

1000 Midpoint
Temperature,

900 Ralston

800 Heun

700
Analytical
600
Euler
500
0 100 200 300 400 500 600

Time, t (sec)

Figure 4. Comparison of Euler and Runge Kutta 2nd order methods

with exact results.
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 Additional Resources
For all resources on this topic such as digital
audiovisual lectures, primers, textbook chapters,
multiple-choice tests, worksheets in MATLAB,
MATHEMATICA, MathCad and MAPLE, blogs,
related physical problems, please visit

http://numericalmethods.eng.usf.edu/topics/
runge_kutta_2nd_method.html
 THE END

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