A Lagrangian numerical method based on impulse variables is analyzed. The relation between discrete impulse vectors and vortex dipoles with a prescribed dipole moment is presented and used to adapt the high-accuracy cutoff functions of vortex methods for use in impulse-based methods. The long-time implementation of the impulse method is shown to contain a source of error whose growth in time leads to a severe loss of accuracy in interior flows. Applications for which impulse methods are well suited are identified.

SIAM J. Sci. Comput., 19, No. 4 (1998), pp. 1290-1302.

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@article{Cortez1998,
        author = {Ricardo Cortez},
        title = {On the accuracy of impulse methods for fluid flow},
        journal = {SIAM J. Sci. Comput.},
        volume = {19},
        number = {4},
        month = {Jul.},
        year = {1998},
        pages = {1290--1302}
}