Solving Fredholm second-kind integral equations with singular right-hand sides on non-smooth boundaries

Abstract: A numerical scheme is presented for the solution of Fredholm second-kind boundary integral equations with right-hand sides that are singular at a finite set of boundary points. The boundaries themselves may be non-smooth. The scheme, which builds on recursively compressed inverse preconditioning (RCIP), is universal as it is independent of the nature of the singularities. Strong right-hand-side singularities, such as $1/|r|^\alpha$ with $\alpha$ close to $1$, can be treated in full machine precision. Adaptive refinement is used only in the recursive construction of the preconditioner, leading to an optimal number of discretization points and superior stability in the solve phase. The performance of the scheme is illustrated via several numerical examples, including an application to an integral equation derived from the linearized BGKW kinetic equation for the steady Couette flow.