In this work, a model for the simulation of infectious disease outbreaks including mobility data is presented. The model is based on the SAIR compartmental model and includes mobility data terms that model the flow of people between different regions. The aim of the model is to analyze the influence of mobility on the evolution of a disease after a lockdown period and to study the appearance of small epidemic outbreaks due to the so-called imported cases. We apply the model to the simulation of the COVID-19 in the various areas of Spain, for which the authorities made available mobility data based on the position of cell phones. We also introduce a method for the estimation of incomplete mobility data. Some numerical experiments show the importance of data completion and indicate that the model is able to qualitatively simulate the spread tendencies of small outbreaks. This work was motivated by an open call made to the mathematical community in Spain to help predict the spread of the epidemic.

An efficient approximate version of implicit Taylor methods for initial-value problems of systems of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) is introduced. The approach, based on an approximate formulation of Taylor methods, produces a method that requires less evaluations of the function that defines the ODE and its derivatives than the usual version. On the other hand, an efficient numerical solution of the equation that arises from the discretization by means of Newton’s method is introduced for an implicit scheme of any order. Numerical experiments illustrate that the resulting algorithm is simpler to implement and has better performance than its exact counterpart.

The operation of a froth flotation column can be described by a nonlinear convection–diffusion partial differential equation that incorporates the solids–flux and drift–flux theories as well as a model of foam drainage. The resulting model predicts the bubble and (gangue) particle volume fractions as functions of height and time. The steady-state (time-independent) version of the model defines so-called operating charts that map conditions on the gas and pulp feed rates that allow for operation with a stationary froth layer. Operating charts for a suitably adapted version of the model are compared with experimental results obtained with a laboratory flotation column. Experiments were conducted with a two-phase liquid–bubble flow. The results indicate good agreement between the predicted and measured conditions for steady states. Numerical simulations for transient operation, in part for the addition of solid particles, are presented.

Polydisperse sedimentation models can be described by a strongly coupled system of conservation laws for the concentration of each species of solids. Typical solutions for the sedimentation model considered for batch settling in a column include stationary kinematic shocks separating layers of sediment of different composition. This phenomenon, known as segregation of species, is a specially demanding task for numerical simulation due to the need of accurate numerical simulations. Very high-order accurate solutions can be constructed by incorporating characteristic information, available due to the hyperbolicity analysis made in Donat and Mulet [A secular equation for the Jacobian matrix of certain multispecies kinematic flow models, Numer. Methods Partial Differential Equations 26 (2010), pp. 159–175.] But characteristic-based schemes, see Bürger et al. [On the implementation of WENO schemes for a class of polydisperse sedimentation models, J. Comput. Phys. 230 (2011), pp. 2322–2344], are very expensive in terms of computational time, since characteristic information is not readily available, and they are not really necessary in constant areas, where a less complex method can obtain similar results. With this idea in mind, in this paper we develop a hybrid finite difference WENO scheme that only uses the characteristic information of the Jacobian matrix of the system in those regions where singularities exist or are starting to develop, while it uses a component-wise approximation of the scheme in smooth regions. We perform some experiments showing the computational gains that can be achieved by this strategy.