A discrete collocation method for boundary integral equations (Q1904067)

The paper is devoted to the cubature of integrals arising in a piecewise quadratic collocation method for boundary integral equations over smooth surfaces in \(\mathbb{R}^3\). It was shown by \textit{K. E. Atkinson} and \textit{D. Chien} [SIAM J. Sci. Comput. 16, No. 3, 651-681 (1995; Zbl 0826.65095)] that this method provides superconvergence at the collocation nodes if it is applied to the double layer potential equation. The author introduces numerical schemes for evaluating the collocation integrals, based on a cubature of second degree of accuracy on triangles and a special refinement strategy for singular and nearly singular kernels. He proves that this integration scheme provides fourth-order cubatures of the single and double layer potentials and that the corresponding discrete collocation method retains the superconvergence rate.