COMPUTATION OF TWO-DIMENSIONAL STOKES FLOWS VIA LIGHTNING AND AAA RATIONAL APPROXIMATION

Abstract

Low Reynolds number fluid flows are governed by the Stokes equations. In two dimensions, Stokes flows can be described by two analytic functions, known as Goursat functions. Brubeck and Trefethen [SIAM J. Sci. Comput., 44 (2022), pp. A1205-A1226] recently introduced a lightning Stokes solver that uses rational functions to approximate the Goursat functions in polygonal domains. In this paper, we present the LARS algorithm (lightning-AAA rational Stokes) for computing two-dimensional (2D) Stokes flows in domains with smooth boundaries and multiply connected domains using lightning and AAA rational approximation [Y. Nakatsukasa, O. Sète, and L. N. Trefethen, SIAM J. Sci. Comput., 40 (2018), pp. A1494-A1522]. After validating our solver against known analytical solutions, we solve a variety of 2D Stokes flow problems with physical and engineering applications. Using these examples, we show rational approximation can now be used to compute 2D Stokes flows in general domains. The computations take less than a second and give solutions with at least 6-digit accuracy.