| Abstract: | The Poisson-Nernst-Planck (PNP) system is a widely accepted model for
simulation of ionic channels. In this paper, we design, analyze, and numerically validate a second order unconditional positivity-preserving scheme for solving a reduced
PNP system, which can well approximate the three dimensional ion channel problem.
Positivity of numerical solutions is proven to hold true independent of the size of time
steps and the choice of the Poisson solver. The scheme is easy to implement without
resorting to any iteration method. Several numerical examples further confirm the
positivity-preserving property, and demonstrate the accuracy, efficiency, and robustness of the proposed scheme, as well as the fast approach to steady states. |
