Radial basis functions methods for boundary value problems: Performance comparison

We present in this paper comparisons on the performances among five typical radial basis functions methods, namely radial basis collocation method (RBCM), radial basis Galerkin method (RBGM), compactly supported radial basis collocation method (CSRBCM), compactly supported radial basis Galerkin method (CSRBGM), and finite subdomain radial basis collocation method (FSRBCM), for solving problems arising from engineering industries and applied sciences. Numerical comparison results demonstrate that the RBCM and FSRBCM possess high accuracy and superior convergence rates in which the FSRBCM particularly attains higher accuracy for problems with large gradients. The FSRBCM, CSRBCM and RBCM are computationally efficient while the CSRBCM, CSRBGM and FSRBCM can greatly improve the ill-conditioning of the resultant matrix. In conclusion, its advantages on high accuracy; exponential convergence; well-conditioning; and effective computation make the FSRBCM a first-choice among the five radial basis functions methods.