High-order Numerical Quadratures in a Tetrahedron with an Implicitly Defined Curved Interface

Abstract

Given a shape regular tetrahedron and a curved surface that is defined implicitly by a nonlinear level set function and divides the tetrahedron into two sub-domains, a general-purpose, robust, and high-order numerical algorithm is proposed in this article for computing both volume integrals in the sub-domains and surface integrals on their common boundary. The algorithm uses a direct approach that decomposes 3D volume integrals or 2D surface integrals into multiple 1D integrals and computes the 1D integrals with Gaussian quadratures. It only requires finding roots of univariate nonlinear functions in given intervals and evaluating the integrand, the level set function, and the gradient of the level set function at given points. It can achieve arbitrarily high accuracy by increasing the orders of Gaussian quadratures, and it does not need extra a priori knowledge about the integrand and the level set function. The code for the algorithm is freely available in the open-source finite element toolbox Parallel Hierarchical Grid (PHG) and can serve as a basic building block for implementing 3D high-order numerical algorithms involving implicit interfaces or boundaries.