Abstract This thesis summarizes certain boundary element methods applied to some initial and boundary value problems. Our model problem is the two-dimensional homogeneous heat conduction problem with vanishing initial data. We use the heat potential representation of the solution. The given boundary conditions, as well as the choice of the representation formula, yield various boundary integral equations. For the sake of simplicity, we use the direct boundary integral approach, where the unknown boundary density appearing in the boundary integral equation is a quantity of physical meaning. We consider two different sets of boundary conditions, the Dirichlet problem, where the boundary temperature is given and the Neumann problem, where the heat flux across the boundary is given. Even a nonlinear Neumann condition satisfying certain monotonicity and growth conditions is possible. The approach yields a nonlinear boundary integral equation of the second kind. In the stationary case, the model problem reduces to a potential problem with a nonlinear Neumann condition. We use the spaces of smoothest splines as trial functions. The nonlinearity is approximated by using the L2-orthogonal projection. The resulting collocation scheme retains the optimal L2-convergence. Numerical experiments are in agreement with this result. This approach generalizes to the time dependent case. The trial functions are tensor products of piecewise linear and piecewise constant splines. The proposed projection method uses interpolation with respect to the space variable and the orthogonal projection with respect to the time variable. Compared to the Galerkin method, this approach simplifies the realization of the discrete matrix equations. In addition, the rate of the convergence is of optimal order. On the other hand, the Dirichlet problem, where the boundary temperature is given, leads to a single layer heat operator equation of the first kind. In the first approach, we use tensor products of piecewise linear splines as trial functions with collocation at the nodal points. Stability and suboptimal L2-convergence of the method were proved in the case of a circular domain. Numerical experiments indicate the expected quadratic L2-convergence. Later, a Petrov-Galerkin approach was proposed, where the trial functions were tensor products of piecewise linear and piecewise constant splines. The resulting approximative scheme is stable and convergent. The analysis has been carried out in the cases of the single layer heat operator and the hypersingular heat operator. The rate of the convergence with respect to the L2-norm is also here of suboptimal order.

La premième partie a pour but l’établissement d’un développement asymptotique pour la solution du problème de Stokes avec une petite perturbation du domaine. Dans ce travail, nous avons appliqué la théorie du potentiel. On a écrit les solutions du problème non-perturbé et du problème perturbé sous forme des opérateurs intégraux. En calculant la différence, et en utilisant des propriétés liées aux noyaux des opérateurs on a établi un développement asymptotiquede la solution.L’objectif principal de la deuxième partie de ce rapport est de déterminer les termes d’ordre élevé de l’expansion asymptotique des valeurs propres et fonctions propres pour l’opérateur de Stokes dues aux changements d’interface de l’inclusion. Dans la troisième partie, nous proposons une méthode pour l’évaluation des integrales singulières provenant de la mise en oeuvre de la méthode des éléments finis de frontière en électromagnetisme. La méthodeque nous adoptons consiste en une réduction récursive de la dimension du domained’intégration et aboutit à une représentation de l’intégrale sous la forme d’une combinaison linéaire d’intégrales mono-dimensionnelles dont l’intégrand est régulier et qui peuvent s’évaluer numériquement mais aussi explicitement. Pour la discrétisation du domaine, destriangles plans sont utilisés ; par conséquent, nous évaluons des intégrales sur le produit de deux triangles. La technique que nous avons développée nécessite de distinguer entre diverses configurations géométriques. / This thesis contains three main parts. The first part concerns the derivation of an asymptotic expansion for the solution of Stokes resolvent problem with a small perturbation of the domain. Firstly, we verify the continuity of the solution with respect to the small perturbation via the stability of the density function. Secondly, we derive the asymptotic expansion ofthe solution, after deriving the expansion of the density function. The procedure is based on potential theory for Stokes problem in connection with boundary integral equation method, and geometric properties of the perturbed boundary. The main objective of the second part on this report, is to present a schematic way to derive high-order asymptotic expansions for both eigenvalues and eigenfunctions for the Stokes operator caused by small perturbationsof the boundary. Also, we rigorously derive an asymptotic formula which is in some sense dual to the leading-order term in the asymptotic expansion of the perturbations in the Stokes eigenvalues due to interface changes of the inclusion. The implementation of the boundary element method requires the evaluation of integrals with a singular integrand. A reliable andaccurate calculation of these integrals can in some cases be crucial and difficult. In the third part of this report we propose a method of evaluation of singular integrals based on recursive reductions of the dimension of the integration domain. It leads to a representation of the integralas a linear combination of one-dimensional integrals whose integrand is regular and that can be evaluated numerically and even explicitly. The Maxwell equation is used as a model equation, but these results can be used for the Laplace and the Helmholtz equations in 3-D.For the discretization of the domain we use planar triangles, so we evaluate integrals over the product of two triangles. The technique we have developped requires to distinguish between several geometric configurations.

Particle suspensions occur in many situations in nature and industry. In this master’s thesis, the motion of a single rigid spheroidal particle immersed in Stokes flow is studied numerically using a boundary integral method and a new specialized quadrature method known as quadrature by expansion (QBX). This method allows the spheroid to be massless or inertial, and placed in any kind of underlying Stokesian flow.   A parameter study of the QBX method is presented, together with validation cases for spheroids in linear shear flow and quadratic flow. The QBX method is able to compute the force and torque on the spheroid as well as the resulting rigid body motion with small errors in a short time, typically less than one second per time step on a regular desktop computer. Novel results are presented for the motion of an inertial spheroid in quadratic flow, where in contrast to linear shear flow the shear rate is not constant. It is found that particle inertia induces a translational drift towards regions in the fluid with higher shear rate. / Partikelsuspensioner förekommer i många sammanhang i naturen och industrin. I denna masteruppsats studeras rörelsen hos en enstaka stel sfäroidisk partikel i Stokesflöde numeriskt med hjälp av en randintegralmetod och en ny specialiserad kvadraturmetod som kallas quadrature by expansion (QBX). Metoden fungerar för masslösa eller tröga sfäroider, som kan placeras i ett godtyckligt underliggande Stokesflöde.   En parameterstudie av QBX-metoden presenteras, tillsammans med valideringsfall för sfäroider i linjärt skjuvflöde och kvadratiskt flöde. QBX-metoden kan beräkna kraften och momentet på sfäroiden samt den resulterande stelkroppsrörelsen med små fel på kort tid, typiskt mindre än en sekund per tidssteg på en vanlig persondator. Nya resultat presenteras för rörelsen hos en trög sfäroid i kvadratiskt flöde, där skjuvningen till skillnad från linjärt skjuvflöde inte är konstant. Det visar sig att partikeltröghet medför en drift i sidled mot områden i fluiden med högre skjuvning.