Low Reynolds number deformation of viscous drops in a bounded flow region under surface tension

This paper presents a novel formulation of the completed indirect boundary element method to study the deformation of viscous drops on a slow viscous flow in a bounded region subject to surface tension effects. The theoretica l background to the technique is explained in detail, including mathematica l proofs of existence and uniqueness of solutions of the second-kind Fredho lm integral equations generated. The computer implementation of the formula tion is simple and efficient. Numerical results of several tests are includ ed. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.