Divergence-free radial kernel for surface Stokes equations based on the surface Helmholtz decomposition

Abstract In this paper, we develop and analyze a new divergence-free kernel approximation method for the time-dependent incompressible Stokes equations on surfaces. The novelty of our proposed method comes from the surface Helmholtz decomposition, which can convert the surface Stokes equations into a coupled equations in which the velocity is deadly divergence-free so that no inf-sup conditions have to be satisfied. Spatial discretization of velocity is implemented by the radial kernel divergence-free approximation spaces, which only need scatter nodes on surfaces. Using the radial basis function collocation method in space, we derive the rigorous stability and convergence result. Numerical examples are presented, demonstrating the efficiency of some model problems on more general surfaces.