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3D time-dependent scattering about complex shapes using high order difference potentials
We compute the scattering of unsteady acoustic waves about complex three-dimensional
bodies with high order accuracy. The geometry of a scattering body is defined with
the help of CAD. Its surface is represented as a collection of non-overlapping patches,
each parameterized independently by means of high order splines (NURBS). As a specific
example, we consider a submarine-like scatterer constructed using five different patches.
The acoustic wave equation on the region exterior to the scatterer is solved by first
reducing it to a system of Calderon’s boundary operator equations. The latter are obtained
using the method of difference potentials coupled with a compact fourth order accurate
finite difference scheme. When solving the boundary operator equations, we employ
Huygens’ principle. It allows us to work on a sliding time window of non-increasing
duration rather than keep the entire temporal history of the solution at the boundary.
The proposed methodology demonstrates grid-independent computational complexity at
the boundary and sub-linear complexity with respect to the grid dimension. It efficiently
handles complex non-conforming geometries on Cartesian grids with no penalty for either
accuracy or stability due to the cut cells. Its performance does not deteriorate over
arbitrarily long simulation times. The exact treatment of artificial outer boundaries is
inherently built in. Finally, multiple similar problems can be solved efficiently at a low
individual cost per problem. This is important when, for example, the boundary condition
on the surface changes but the scattering body stays the same