The difference method in a diffraction problem: The technique of interior boundary condition

Abstract

The diffraction problem for a plane wave on a half-plane covered by thin layer with an interface is solved by the difference method. The system of difference equations is derived from the variational principle. A boundary solution at infinity must be imposed; this is a radiation condition, which is used in the form of the limit absorption principle. The arising infinite system of difference equations is reduced to a finite part of the boundary (the interface) by using the technique of so-called interior boundary conditions in the sense of Ryaben’kii. The real conditions are found by the Fourier method with respect to one spatial variable in the form of Fourier or Laurent series in the corresponding variable, which converge either inside, outside, or on the unit circle. Above the upper boundary of the layer, all unknowns are eliminated by using the so-called grid Green function, that is, the resolving function for the half-plane satisfying the radiation condition at infinity. For the unknowns on the upper boundary of the layer, an equation in terms of a function of a complex variable of Wiener-Hopf type is obtained, which is solved by factorization. Factorization is performed numerically: the logarithm of the function is expanded in a bi-infinite series, which is replaced by a discrete Fourier series. The closing system in a neighborhood of the interface has order proportional to the number of points on the interface. Solving this system yields all of the required characteristics of the solution.