Numerical simulation of an extensible capsule using regularized Stokes kernels and overset finite differences

Abstract

In this paper, we present a novel numerical scheme for simulating deformable and extensible capsules suspended in a Stokesian fluid. The main feature of our scheme is a partition-of-unity (POU) based representation of the surface that enables asymptotically faster computations compared to spherical-harmonics based representations. We use a boundary integral equation formulation to represent and discretize hydrodynamic interactions. The boundary integrals are weakly singular. We use the quadrature scheme based on the regularized Stokes kernels. We also use partition-of unity based finite differences that are required for the computational of interfacial forces. Given an N-point surface discretization, our numerical scheme has fourth-order accuracy and O(N) asymptotic complexity, which is an improvement over the O(N^2 log(N)) complexity of a spherical harmonics based spectral scheme that uses product-rule quadratures. We use GPU acceleration and demonstrate the ability of our code to simulate the complex shapes with high resolution. We study capsules that resist shear and tension and their dynamics in shear and Poiseuille flows. We demonstrate the convergence of the scheme and compare with the state of the art.