A boundary integral approach to unstable solidification (Q1262105)

The supercooled Stefan problem with a general anisotropic curvature- and velocity-dependent boundary condition on the moving interface is considered. The author presents numerical methods based on an integral equation formulation and including a new algorithm for moving curves with curvature-dependent velocity. These methods compute a periodic interface with O(\(\Delta\) t) accuracy, where \(\Delta\) t is the time step. Previous work has been limited to short time spans and achieved slightly less than \(O(\Delta t^{1/2})\) accuracy. Accurate numerical results are seen to agree with the predictions of linear stability theory. This agreement has eluded previous authors, because their numerical methods suffered from grid effects and their linear stability theory was incorrect. The author considers the long-time evolution of an unstable interface. His computations exhibit the beginnings of a sidebranching instability when the boundary condition includes anisotropy and tip-splitting in the isotropic case.