Fourth-order Runge–Kutta method (RK4) collapses after a few iterations - matlab

Question

I'm trying to solve:
x' = 60*x - 0.2*x*y;
y' = 0.01*x*y - 100* y;
using the fourth-order Runge-Kutta algorithm.
Starting points: x(0) = 8000, y(0) = 300 range: [0,15]
Here's the complete function:
function [xx yy time r] = rk4_m(x,y,step)
A = 0;
B = 15;
h = step;
iteration=0;
t = tic;
xh2 = x;
yh2 = y;
rr = zeros(floor(15/step)-1,1);
xx = zeros(floor(15/step)-1,1);
yy = zeros(floor(15/step)-1,1);
AA = zeros(1, floor(15/step)-1);
while( A < B)
A = A+h;
iteration = iteration + 1;
xx(iteration) = x;
yy(iteration) = y;
AA(iteration) = A;
[x y] = rkstep(x,y,h);
for h2=0:1
[xh2 yh2] = rkstep(xh2,yh2,h/2);
end
r(iteration)=abs(y-yh2);
end
time = toc(t);
xlabel('Range');
ylabel('Value');
hold on
plot(AA,xx,'b');
plot(AA,yy,'g');
plot(AA,r,'r');
fprintf('Solution:\n');
fprintf('x: %f\n', x);
fprintf('y: %f\n', y);
fprintf('A: %f\n', A);
fprintf('Time: %f\n', time);
end
function [xnext, ynext] = rkstep(xcur, ycur, h)
kx1 = f_prim_x(xcur,ycur);
ky1 = f_prim_y(xcur,ycur);
kx2 = f_prim_x(xcur+0.5*h,ycur+0.5*h*kx1);
kx3 = f_prim_x(xcur+0.5*h,ycur+0.5*h*kx2);
kx4 = f_prim_x(xcur+h,ycur+h*kx3);
ky2 = f_prim_y(xcur+0.5*h*ky1,ycur+0.5*h);
ky3 = f_prim_y(xcur+0.5*h*ky2,ycur+0.5*h);
ky4 = f_prim_y(xcur+h*ky2,ycur+h);
xnext = xcur + (1/6)*h*(kx1 + 2*kx2 + 2*kx3 + kx4);
ynext = ycur + (1/6)*h*(ky1 + 2*ky2 + 2*ky3 + ky4);
end
function [fx] = f_prim_x(x,y)
fx = 60*x - 0.2*x*y;
end
function [fy] = f_prim_y(x,y)
fy = 0.01*x*y - 100*y;
end
And I'm running it by executing: [xx yy time] = rk4_m(8000,300,10)
The problem is that everything collapses after 2-3 iterations returning useless results. What am I doing wrong? Or is just this method not appropriate for this kind equation?
The semicolons are intentionally omitted.
Looks like I didn't pay attention to actual h size. It works now! Thanks!

Answer 1

Looks like some form of the Lotka-Volterra equation?
I'm not sure if if your initial condition is [300;8000] or [8000;300] (you specify it both ways above), but regardless, you have an oscillatory system that you're trying to integrate with a large fixed time step that is (much) greater than the period of oscillation. This is why your error explodes. If you try increasing n (say, 1e6), you'll find that eventually you'll get a stable solution (assuming that your Runge-Kutta implementation is otherwise correct).
Is there a reason why you're not using Matlab's builtin ODE solvers, e.g. ode45 or ode15s?
function ode45demo
[t,y]=odeode45(#f,[0 15],[300;8000]);
figure;
plot(t,y);
function ydot=f(t,y)
ydot(1,1) = 60*y(1) - 0.2*y(1)*y(2);
ydot(2,1) = 0.01*y(1)*y(2) - 100*y(2);
You'll find that adaptive step size solvers are much more efficient for these types of oscillatory problems. Because your system has such a high frequency and seems rather stiff, I suggest that you also look at what ode15s gives and/or adjust the 'AbsTol' and 'RelTol' options with odeset.

Answer 2

The immediate problem is that the RK4 code was not completely evolved from the scalar case to the case of two coupled equations. Note that there is no time parameter in the derivative funtions. x and y are both dependent variables and thus get the slope update defined by the derivative functions in every step. Then xcur gets the kx updates and ycur gets the ky updates.
function [xnext, ynext] = rkstep(xcur, ycur, h)
kx1 = f_prim_x(xcur,ycur);
ky1 = f_prim_y(xcur,ycur);
kx2 = f_prim_x(xcur+0.5*h*kx1,ycur+0.5*h*ky1);
ky2 = f_prim_y(xcur+0.5*h*kx1,ycur+0.5*h*ky1);
kx3 = f_prim_x(xcur+0.5*h*kx2,ycur+0.5*h*ky2);
ky3 = f_prim_y(xcur+0.5*h*kx2,ycur+0.5*h*ky2);
kx4 = f_prim_x(xcur+h*kx3,ycur+h*ky3);
ky4 = f_prim_y(xcur+h*kx3,ycur+h*ky3);
xnext = xcur + (1/6)*h*(kx1 + 2*kx2 + 2*kx3 + kx4);
ynext = ycur + (1/6)*h*(ky1 + 2*ky2 + 2*ky3 + ky4);
end