Finite volume methods: foundation and analysis

Finite volume methods are a class of discretization schemes that have proven highly successful in approximating the solution of a wide variety of conservation law systems. They are extensively used in fluid mechanics, meteorology, electromagnetics, semi-conductor device simulation, models of biological processes and many other engineering areas governed by conservative systems that can be written in integral control volume form. This article reviews elements of the foundation and analysis of modern finite volume methods. The primary advantages of these methods are numerical robustness through the obtention of discrete maximum (minimum) principles, applicability on very general unstructured meshes, and the intrinsic local conservation properties of the resulting schemes. Throughout this article, specific attention is given to scalar nonlinear hyperbolic conservation laws and the development of high order accurate schemes for discretizing them. A key tool in the design and analysis of finite volume schemes suitable for discontinuity capturing is discrete maximum principle analysis. A number of building blocks used in the development of numerical schemes possessing local discrete maximum principles are reviewed in one and several space dimensions, e.g. monotone fluxes, TVD discretization, positive coefficient discretization, non-oscillatory reconstruction, slope limiters, etc. When available, theoretical results concerning a priori and a posteriori error estimates are given. Further advanced topics are then considered such as high order time integration, discretization of diffusion terms and the extension to systems of nonlinear conservation laws. key words: finite volume methods, conservation laws, non-oscillatory approximation, discrete maximum principles, higher order schemes