Convolution quadrature for the wave equation with impedance boundary conditions

We consider the numerical solution of the wave equation with impedance boundary conditions and start from a boundary integral formulation for its discretization. We develop the generalized convolution quadrature (gCQ) to solve the arising acoustic retarded potential integral equation for this impedance problem. For the special case of scattering from a spherical object, we derive representations of analytic solutions which allow to investigate the effect of the impedance coefficient on the acoustic pressure analytically. We have performed systematic numerical experiments to study the convergence rates as well as the sensitivity of the acoustic pressure from the impedance coefficients. Finally, we apply this method to simulate the acoustic pressure in a building with a fairly complicated geometry and to study the influence of the impedance coefficient also in this situation

Time-dependent acoustic scattering from generalized impedance boundary conditions via boundary elements and convolution

Generalized impedance boundary conditions are effective, approximate boundary conditions that describe scattering of waves in situations where the wave interaction with the material involves multiple scales. In particular, this includes materials with a thin coating (with the thickness of the coating as the small scale) and strongly absorbing materials. For the acoustic scattering from generalized impedance boundary conditions, the approach taken here first determines the Dirichlet and Neumann boundary data from a system of time-dependent boundary integral equations with the usual boundary integral operators, and then the scattered wave is obtained from the Kirchhoff representation. The system of time-dependent boundary integral equations is discretized by boundary elements in space and convolution quadrature in time. The well-posedness of the problem and the stability of the numerical discretization rely on the coercivity of the Calderón operator for the Helmholtz equation with frequencies in a complex half-plane. Convergence of optimal order in the natural norms is proved for the full discretization. Numerical experiments illustrate the behaviour of the proposed numerical method

Time-dependent electromagnetic scattering from thin layers

The scattering of electromagnetic waves from obstacles with wave-material interaction in thin layers on the surface is described by generalized impedance boundary conditions, which provide effective approximate models. In particular, this includes a thin coating around a perfect conductor and the skin effect of a highly conducting material. The approach taken in this work is to derive, analyse and discretize a system of time-dependent boundary integral equations that determines the tangential traces of the scattered electric and magnetic fields. In a second step the fields are evaluated in the exterior domain by a representation formula, which uses the time-dependent potential operators of Maxwell’s equations. A key role in the well-posedness of the time-dependent boundary integral equations and the stability of the numerical discretization is taken by the coercivity of the Calderón operator for the time-harmonic Maxwell’s equations with frequencies in a complex half-plane. This entails the coercivity of the full boundary operator that includes the impedance operator. The system of time-dependent boundary integral equations is discretized with Runge–Kutta based convolution quadrature in time and Raviart–Thomas boundary elements in space. The full discretization is proved to be stable and convergent, with explicitly given rates in the case of sufficient regularity. The theoretical results are illustrated by numerical experiments

Runge-Kutta convolution coercivity and its use for time-dependent boundary integral equations

A coercivity property of temporal convolution operators is an essential tool in the analysis of time-dependent boundary integral equations and their space and time discretisations. It is known that this coercivity property is inherited by convolution quadrature time discretisation based on A-stable multistep methods, which are of order at most two. Here we study the ques- tion as to which Runge–Kutta-based convolution quadrature methods inherit the convolution coercivity property. It is shown that this holds without any restriction for the third-order Radau IIA method, and on permitting a shift in the Laplace domain variable, this holds for all algebraically stable Runge– Kutta methods and hence for methods of arbitrary order. As an illustration, the discrete convolution coercivity is used to analyse the stability and convergence properties of the time discretisation of a non-linear boundary integral equation that originates from a non-linear scattering problem for the linear wave equation. Numerical experiments illustrate the error behaviour of the Runge–Kutta convolution quadrature time discretisation

Asymptotic stability of the multidimensional wave equation coupled with classes of positive-real impedance boundary conditions

This paper proves the asymptotic stability of the multidimensional wave equation posed on a bounded open Lipschitz set, coupled with various classes of positive-real impedance boundary conditions, chosen for their physical relevance: time-delayed, standard diffusive (which includes the Riemann-Liouville fractional integral) and extended diffusive (which includes the Caputo fractional derivative). The method of proof consists in formulating an abstract Cauchy problem on an extended state space using a dissipative realization of the impedance operator, be it finite or infinite-dimensional. The asymptotic stability of the corresponding strongly continuous semigroup is then obtained by verifying the sufficient spectral conditions derived by Arendt and Batty (Trans. Amer. Math. Soc., 306 (1988)) as well as Lyubich and V\~u (Studia Math., 88 (1988))

Convolution quadrature for the wave equation with a nonlinear impedance boundary condition

A rarely exploited advantage of time-domain boundary integral equations compared to their frequency counterparts is that they can be used to treat certain nonlinear problems. In this work we investigate the scattering of acoustic waves by a bounded obstacle with a nonlinear impedance boundary condition. We describe a boundary integral formulation of the problem and prove without any smoothness assumptions on the solution the convergence of a full discretization: Galerkin in space and convolution quadrature in time. If the solution is sufficiently regular, we prove that the discrete method converges at optimal rates. Numerical evidence in 3D supports the theory