Global error analysis of two-dimensional panel methods for dirichlet formulation

Abstract

A rigorous analytical study of the global error of panel methods is presented. The analysis is performed for a wide variety of body shapes and different panel geometries to fully understand their effect on the convergence of the method. In particular, we study the global error associated with panel methods applied to thin or thick bodies with purely convex parts or with both convex and concave parts, and with smooth or non-smooth boundaries. Most previous studies focused on the analysis of local error, considering only the influence of the nearest panels and excluding the rest. The difference is shown to be appreciable in many configurations. Generally, there is a lack of consensus concerning the order of magnitude of the error for panel methods even in the simplest case with flat panels and a constant distribution of doublets along them. This paper clarifies apparently different or inconsistent results obtained by other authors.