Simulating diffusion processes in discontinuous media: Benchmark tests

We present several benchmark tests for Monte Carlo methods simulating diffusion in one-dimensional discontinuous media. These benchmark tests aim at studying the potential bias of the schemes and their impact on the estimation of micro- or macroscopic quantities (repartition of masses, fluxes, mean residence time,...). These benchmark tests are backed by a statistical analysis to filter out the bias from the unavoidable Monte Carlo error. We apply them on four different algorithms. The results of the numerical tests give a valuable insight into the fine behavior of these schemes, as well as rules to choose between them. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.