A spectral boundary integral method for the elastic obstacle scattering problem in three dimensions

Abstract: In this paper, we consider the scattering of a plane wave by a rigid obstacle embedded in a homogeneous and isotropic elastic medium in three dimensions. Based on the Helmholtz decomposition, the elastic scattering problem is reduced to a coupled boundary value problem for the Helmholtz and Maxwell equations. A novel system of boundary integral equations is formulated and a spectral boundary integral method is developed for the coupled boundary value problem. Numerical experiments are presented to demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed method.