Polynomial chaos functions and stochastic differential equations

The Karhunen–Loeve procedure and the associated polynomial chaos expansion have been employed to solve a simple first order stochastic differential equation which is typical of transport problems. Because the equation has an analytical solution, it provides a useful test of the efficacy of polynomial chaos. We find that the convergence is very rapid in some cases but that the increased complexity associated with many random variables can lead to very long computational times. The work is illustrated by exact and approximate solutions for the mean, variance and the probability distribution itself. The usefulness of a white noise approximation is also assessed. Extensive numerical results are given which highlight the weaknesses and strengths of polynomial chaos. The general conclusion is that the method is promising but requires further detailed study by application to a practical problem in transport theory.