Second order schemes and time-step adaptivity for Allen–Cahn and Cahn–Hilliard models

In this paper, we focus on efficient second-order in time approximations of the Allen–Cahn and Cahn–Hilliard equations. First of all, we present the equations, generic second-order schemes (based on a mid-point approximation of the diffusion term) and some schemes already introduced in the literature. Then, we propose new ways of deriving second-order in time approximations of the potential term (starting from the main schemes introduced in Guillén-González and Tierra (2013)), yielding to new second-order schemes. For these schemes and other second-order schemes previously introduced in the literature, we study the constraints on the physical and discrete parameters that can appear to assure the energy-stability, unique solvability and, in the case of nonlinear schemes, the convergence of Newton’s method to the nonlinear schemes. Moreover, in order to save computational cost we have developed a new adaptive time-stepping algorithm based on the numerical dissipation introduced in the discrete energy law in each time step. Finally, we compare the behaviour of the schemes and the effectiveness of the adaptive time-stepping algorithm through several computational experiments.