Convergence and order reduction of Runge-Kutta schemes applied to evolutionary problems in partial differential equations (Q1074321)

We address the question of convergence of fully discrete Runge-Kutta approximations. We prove that, under certain conditions, the order in time of the fully discrete scheme equals the conventional order of the Runge-Kutta formula being used. However, these conditions, which are necessary for the result to hold, are not natural. As a result, in many problems the order in time will be strictly smaller than the conventional one, a phenomenon called order reduction. This phenomenon is extensively discussed, both analytically and numerically.