A numerical study on low and higher-order potential based BEM for 2D inviscid flows

A formal error analysis of the order of approximation of a potential based boundary element method (BEM) for two-dimensional flows is performed in order to derive consistent approximations for the potential integrals. Two higher-order approaches satisfying consistency requirements to attain second and third order convergence in the potential are selected for numerical implementation. From the formal local expansions of the potential integrals the influence coefficients are derived and evaluated analytically. In order to assess the methods accuracy, the low and higher-order methods are applied to two-dimensional steady flows around analytical foils. A numerical error analysis is done and a comparison between their theoretical and numerical asymptotic order of accuracy performed.The first author acknowledges the financial support granted by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Ph.D. grant PRAXISXXI/BD/2226/99. This work was done under the project PRAXIS/2/2.1/MAR/1723/95.