Regularized Stokeslet Surfaces

The Method of Regularized Stokeslets (MRS), introduced in 2001, is a popular numerical method for simulating viscous-dominated flows (Stokes flows) generated by regularized forces distributed over the surfaces of bodies immersed in the fluid. The accuracy of the method relies on a numerical parameter, ε, which desingularizes the Stokeslet kernel but introduces error. This error is smallest when ε is chosen to be about the order of the spatial discretization for the surface. In effect, one cannot use a small regularization without a suitable refinement of the spatial discretization for the surface. In this talk, we introduce a new method which alleviates this coupling by exactly computing the regularized Stokeslet velocity field due to a piecewise linear force density over a triangulated surface. An overview of the method and numerical results will be presented.