Numerical integration of positive linear differential-algebraic systems

Abstract

In the simulation of dynamical processes in economy, social sciences, biology or chemistry, the analyzed values often represent non-negative quantities like the amount of goods or individuals or the density of a chemical or biological species. Such systems are typically described by positive ordinary differential equations (ODEs) that have a non-negative solution for every non-negative initial value. Besides positivity, these processes often are subject to algebraic constraints that result from conservation laws, limitation of resources, or balance conditions and thus the models are differential-algebraic equations (DAEs). In this work, we present conditions under which both these properties, the positivity as well as the algebraic constraints, are preserved in the numerical simulation by Runge–Kutta or multistep discretization methods. Using a decomposition approach, we separate the dynamic and the algebraic equations of a given linear, positive DAE to give positivity preserving conditions for each part separately. For the dynamic part, we generalize the results for positive ODEs to DAEs using the solution representation via Drazin inverses. For the algebraic part, we use the consistency conditions of the discretization method to derive conditions under which this part of the approximation overestimates the exact solution and thus is non-negative. We analyze these conditions for some common Runge–Kutta and multistep methods and observe that for index-1 systems and stiffly accurate Runge–Kutta methods, positivity is conditionally preserved under similar conditions as for ODEs. For higher index problems, however, none of the common methods is suitable.