An isogeometric formulation of locally-conformal perfectly matched layer for acoustic scattering problems

This paper presents an isogeometric formulation of the locally-conformal perfectly matched layer (PML) for time-harmonic acoustic scattering problems. The new formulation is a generalization of the conventional locally-conformal PML, in which the NURBS patch supporting the PML domain is transformed from real space to complex space. This is achieved by complex coordinate stretching, based on a stretching vector field indicating the directions in which incident sound waves are absorbed. The performance of the isogeometric PML formulation is discussed through several acoustic scattering problems, spanning from one to three dimensions. It is found that the proposed method presents superior computational accuracy, high geometric adaptivity, and good robustness against challenging geometric features. The geometry-preserving ability inherent in the isogeometric framework could bring extra benefits by eliminating geometric errors that are unavoidable in the conventional PML. Meanwhile, these properties are not sensitive to the location of the sound source or the depth of the PML domain.