Mathematical analysis of the velocity extension level set method

Abstract

A passively advected sharp interface can be represented as the zero level set of a level set function $f$. The linear transport equation $\partial_tf+v\cdot \nabla f =0$ is the simplest governing equation for such a level set function. While the signed distance of the interface is a geometrically convenient function, e.g., the norm of the gradient is everywhere one, its time evolution is not governed by the linear transport equation. In computational fluid dynamics, several modifications of the simplest case have been proposed in order to compute the signed distance function or to stabilize the norm of the gradient of a level set function on the interface. The velocity extension method is a prominent method used for efficient numerical approximation of the local signed distance function of the interface. Our current paper presents a rigorous mathematical formulation of the velocity extension method and proves that the method provides the local signed distance function of the moving interface. A key is to derive a first-order fully nonlinear PDE that is equivalent to the linear transport equation with extended velocity. Then, wellposedness of the PDE is established in the class of $C^2$-smooth solutions, global in time and local in space, with the local signed distance property, as well as in the class of $C^0$-viscosity solutions, global in time and space. Furthermore, partial regularity of the viscosity solution is proven, thus confirming that, if initial data is smooth near the initial interface, the viscosity solution is smooth in a time-global tubular neighborhood of the interface, coinciding with the local-in-space $C^2$-smooth solution.