A direct method for equipotential and streamline tracing in the boundary element method

Abstract

Presented is a direct method for graphics post-processing of boundary element results in the form of equipotential traces and streamlines. Utilizing a stepping procedure based on the Newton-Raphson method of determining roots, and the boundary integral technique of determining domain field and flux values from boundary data, an algorithm is developed for performing such a task. The method is illustrated in two practical examples involving steady-state ideal fluid flow governed by Laplace's equation.