The quadrature error associated with a regular quadrature rule for evaluation of a layer potential increases rapidly when the evaluation point approaches the surface and the integral becomes nearly singular. Error estimates are needed to determine when the accuracy is insufficient and a more costly special quadrature method should be utilized.& nbsp;The final result of this paper are such quadrature error estimates for the composite Gauss-Legendre rule and the global trapezoidal rule, when applied to evaluate layer potentials defined over smooth curved surfaces in R-3. The estimates have no unknown coefficients and can be efficiently evaluated given the discretization of the surface, invoking a local one-dimensional root-finding procedure. They are derived starting with integrals over curves, using complex analysis involving contour integrals, residue calculus and branch cuts. By complexifying the parameter plane, the theory can be used to derive estimates also for curves in R3. These results are then used in the derivation of the estimates for integrals over surfaces. In this procedure, we also obtain error estimates for layer potentials evaluated over curves in R2. Such estimates combined with a local root-finding procedure for their evaluation were earlier derived for the composite Gauss-Legendre rule for layer potentials written in complex form [4]. This is here extended to provide quadrature error estimates for both complex and real formulations of layer potentials, both for the Gauss-Legendre and the trapezoidal rule.& nbsp;Numerical examples are given to illustrate the performance of the quadrature error estimates. The estimates for integration over curves are in many cases remarkably precise, and the estimates for curved surfaces in R-3 are also sufficiently precise, with sufficiently low computational cost, to be practically useful.

We study the pairwise interactions of drops in an applied uniform DC electric field within the framework of the leaky dielectric model. We develop three-dimensional numerical simulations using the boundary integral method and an analytical theory assuming small drop deformations. We apply the simulations and the theory to explore the electrohydrodynamic interactions between two identical drops with arbitrary orientation of their line of centres relative to the applied field direction. Our results show a complex dynamics depending on the conductivities and permittivities of the drops and suspending fluids, and the initial drop pair alignment with the applied electric field.

We present a highly accurate numerical method based on a boundary integral formulation and the leaky dielectric model to study the dynamics of surfactant-covered drops in the presence of an applied electric field. The method can simulate interacting 3D drops (no axisymmetric simplification) in close proximity, can consider different viscosities, is adaptive in time and able to handle substantial drop deformation. For each drop global representations of the variables based on spherical harmonics expansions are used and the spectral accuracy is achieved by designing specific numerical tools: a specialized quadrature method for the singular and nearly singular integrals that appear in the formulation, a general preconditioner for the implicit treatment of the surfactant diffusion and a reparametrization procedure able to ensure a high-quality representation of the drops also under deformation. Our numerical method is validated against theoretical, numerical and experimental results available in the literature, as well as a new second-order theory developed for a surfactant-laden drop placed in a quadrupole electric field.

The presence of surfactants alters the dynamics of viscous drops immersed in an ambient viscous fluid. This is specifically true at small scales, such as in applications of droplet based microfluidics, where the interface dynamics become of increased importance. At such small scales, viscous forces dominate and inertial effects are often negligible. Considering Stokes flow, a numerical method based on a boundary integral formulation is presented for simulating 3D drops covered by an insoluble surfactant. The method is able to simulate drops with different viscosities and close interactions, automatically controlling the time step size and maintaining high accuracy also when substantial drop deformation appears. To achieve this, the drop surfaces as well as the surfactant concentration on each surface are represented by spherical harmonics expansions. A novel reparameterization method is introduced to ensure a high-quality representation of the drops also under deformation, specialized quadrature methods for singular and nearly singular integrals that appear in the formulation are evoked and the adaptive time stepping scheme for the coupled drop and surfactant evolution is designed with a preconditioned implicit treatment of the surfactant diffusion.

The numerical literature for 3D surfactant-laden drops placed in electric fields is extremely limited due to the difficulties associated with the deforming drop surfaces, interface conditions and the multi-physics nature of the problem. Our numerical method is based on a boundary integral formulation of the Stokes equations and the leaky-dieletric model; it is able to simulate multiple drops with different viscosities covered by an insoluble surfactant; it is adaptive in time and uses special quadrature methods to deal with the singular and nearly-singular integrals that appear in the formulation. In this proceeding we will show how the method is able to maintain a high quality representation of the drops even under substantial deformations due to strong electric fields.

We present a general procedure to construct a non-linear mimetic finite-difference operator. The method is very simple and general: it can be applied for any order scheme, for any number of grid points and for any operator constraints. In order to validate the procedure, we apply it to a specific example, the Jacobian operator for the vorticity equation. In particular we consider a finite difference approximation of a second order Jacobian which uses a 9x9 uniform stencil, verifies the skew-symmetric property and satisfies physical constraints such as conservation of energy and enstrophy. This particular choice has been made in order to compare the present scheme with Arakawa’s renowned Jacobian, which turns out to be a specific case of the general solution. Other possible generalizations of Arakawa’s Jacobian are available in literature but only the present approach ensures that the class of solutions found is the widest possible. A simplified analysis of the general scheme is proposed in terms of truncation error and study of the linearised operator together with some numerical experiments. We also propose a class of analytical solutions for the vorticity equation to compare an exact solution with our numerical results.

An adaptive time-stepping scheme is presented aimed at computing the dynamics of surfactant-covered deforming droplets. This involves solving a coupled system, where one equation corresponds to the evolution of the drop interfaces and one to the surfactant concentration. The first is discretised in space using a boundary integral formulation which can be treated explicitly in time. The latter is a convection-diffusion equation solved with a spectral method and is advantageously solved with a semi-implicit method in time. The scheme is adaptive with respect to drop deformation as well as surfactant concentration and the adjustment of time-steps takes both errors into account. It is applied and demonstrated for simulation of the deformation of surfactant-covered droplets, but can easily be applied to any system of equations with similar structure. Tests are performed for both 2D and 3D formulations and the scheme is shown to meet set error tolerances in an efficient way.

A new high order Arakawa-like method for the incompressible vorticity equation in two-dimensions has been developed. Mimetic properties such as skew-symmetry, energy and enstrophy conservations for the semi-discretization are proved for periodic problems using arbitrary high order summation-by-parts operators. Numerical simulations corroborate the theoretical findings.