Efficient numerical methods for models of evolving interfaces enhanced with a small curvature term.

The aim of this paper is to propose an Eulerian type of numerical finite difference approximation on structured grids for an advection dominated level set equation enhanced with a small curvature term. The proposed numerical scheme is based on upwind discretization in both the advection and the curvature term. This class of approximations is used in algebraic solvers, such as fast sweeping or fast marching methods, which respect the causality of solutions for which any information is propagating along characteristics, in order to solve the algebraic system in a finite number of computationally simple iterations or updates. An implicit numerical scheme for a time relaxed level set equation with non-zero right-hand side is used in this paper and solved by a nonlinear fast sweeping method. The results of the von Neumann stability analysis of the proposed scheme are presented, and numerical examples are used to verify the analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]