The Panel Method is used in the aerospace/naval industries quite extensively to compute, what is essentially, an external potential flow problem that includes effects such as vortex wakes, surface waves, etc. The method is also used in vortex element methods as an integral component of the overall solution.

However, the Panel Method is quite noisy and inaccurate - The velocity predictions are O(1) near the surface of the geometry and O(h) away from the surface!

To this end, I have developed a higher order 3D Galerkin Boundary Element Method for predicting internal/external potential flow about thin/thick bodies. The new method has been shown to require ONE-TWO orders of magnitude fewer panels/boundary elements to achieve essentially similar results as those of the panel method.

You are welcome to view some results in the PROJECTS section of http://www.Applied-Scientific.com

Adrin Gharakhani

(1). Thank you very much for the invitation. (2). Nice color pictures and animations.