Three‐dimensional desingularized boundary integral methods for potential problems

Abstract The concept of desingularization in three‐dimensional boundary integral computations is re‐examined. The boundary integral equation is desingularized by moving the singular points away from the boundary and outside the problem domain. We show that the desingularization gives better solutions to several problems. As a result of desingularization, the surface integrals can be evaluated by simpler techniques, speeding up the computation. The effects of the desingularization distance on the solution and the condition of the resulting system of algebraic equations are studied for both direct and indirect versions of the boundary integral method. Computations show that a broad range of desingularization distances gives accurate solutions with significant savings in the computation time. The desingularization distance must be carefully linked to the mesh size to avoid problems with uniqueness and ill‐conditioning. As an example, the desingularized indirect approach is tested on unsteady non‐linear three‐dimensional gravity waves generated by a moving submerged disturbance; minimal computational difficulties are encountered at the truncated boundary.