Voronoi-based finite volume methods, optimal Voronoi meshes, and PDEs on the sphere

We first develop and analyze a finite volume scheme for the discretization of partial differential equations (PDEs) on the sphere; the scheme uses Voronoi tessellations of the sphere. For a model convection-diffusion problem, the finite volume scheme is shown to produce first-order accurate approximations with respect to a mesh-dependent discrete first-derivative norm. Then, we introduce the notion of constrained centroidal Voronoi tessellations (CCVTs) of the sphere; these are special Voronoi tessellation of the sphere for which the generators of the Voronoi cells are also the constrained centers of mass, with respect to a prescribed density function, of the cells. After discussing an algorithm for determining CCVT meshes on the sphere, we discuss and illustrate several desirable properties possessed by these meshes. In particular, it is shown that CCVT meshes define very high-quality uniform and non-uniform meshes on the sphere. Finally, we discuss, through some computational experiments, the performance of the CCVT meshes used in conjunction with the finite volume scheme for the solution of simple model PDEs on the sphere. The experiments show, for example, that the CCVT based finite volume approximations are second-order accurate if errors are measured in discrete L-2 norms. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.