Bounding the Influence of Domain Parameterization and Knot Spacing on Numerical Stability in Isogeometric Analysis

Isogeometric Analysis (IGA) was introduced by Hughes et al. in 2005 [1] as a new method to bridge the gap between the geometry description and numerical analysis. Similar to the finite element approach, the IGA concept to solve a partial differential equation leads to a (linear) system of equations. The condition number of the coefficient matrix is a crucial factor for the stability of the system. It depends strongly on the domain parameterization, which provides the isogeometric discretization. In this paper we derive a bound for the condition number of the stiffness matrix of the Poisson equation. In particular, we investigate the influence of the domain parameterization and the knot spacing on the stability of the numerical system. The factors appearing in our bound reflect the stability properties of a given domain parameterization.