A novel global RBF direct collocation method for solving partial differential equations with variable coefficients

Conventional radial basis function (RBF) approximation techniques face two fundamental challenges: determining the optimal shape parameter and solving the ill-conditioned linear system, which result from the use of typical kernel functions such as the Multiquadric (MQ) RBF. The objective of this study is to address these challenges by employing a novel RBF kernel, termed the coupled MQ RBF (CMQ-RBF). The new kernel combines the MQ with an m-order conical spline, where m denotes the optimal value determined by the so-called back check method (BCM) introduced in this study. Leveraging the CMQ-RBF kernel, we present a novel global RBF collocation method that generates a well-conditioned linear system, enabling direct solver utilization and delivering highly accurate numerical results without the need for laborious shape parameter selection. Consequently, the previously challenging issues can be effectively circumvented by switching to the "better kernel" offered by the CMQ-RBF. The proposed methodology is characterized by its mathematical simplicity and ease of numerical implementation. Several benchmark examples are investigated to verify its performance.