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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 July 2016
The performance of axial line singularity methods hasbeen investigated systematically for varioussolution parameters using carefully chosen testcases. The results indicate that increasing thenumber of elements and using stretched nodedistribution improves the solution accuracy untilthe matrix becomes near-singular. The matrixcondition number increases with these parameters aswell as with the order of intensity variation andprofile thickness. For moderate fineness ratios, thelinear methods outperform zero-order methods. Thelinear doublet method performs best with controlpoints at the x-locations of nodes while the sourcemethods perform best with control points mid-waybetween nodes. The doublet method has a conditionnumber an order of magnitude lower than the sourcemethod and generally provides more accurate resultsand handles a wider range of bodies. Withappropriate solution parameters, the method providesexcellent accuracy for bodies without slopediscontinuity. The smoothing technique proposedrecently by Hemsch has been shown to reduce thecondition number of the matrix; however it should beused with caution. It is recommended to use it onlywhen the solution is highly oscillatory with anear-singular matrix. A criterion for the optimumvalue of the smoothing parameter is proposed.