Boundary integral equations in time-harmonic acoustic scattering (Q808944)

The paper presents a concise review of the formulation of the boundary integral equations for the scattering of time-harmonic waves by an obstacle (an exterior Dirichlet or Neumann boundary value problem for the Helmholtz equation). The integral equation is derived by the combination of acoustic double- and single-layer potentials with a positive coupling parameter and the conjugate equation by the direct method using the Green's formula. The proof for the existence of a solution to the integral equation is sketched. A numerical scheme for the solution of these integral equations in two dimensions for a smooth boundary curve is described using trigonometric polynomials on an equidistance mesh. Comparison of the Nyström method, the collocation method and the Galerkin method shows that the Nyström method requires the least computational effort. For a boundary curve with a corner, a graded mesh is introduced to take care of the corner singularity. Again the Nyström method is the most efficient of the three.