On the invertibility of mappings arising in 2D grid generation problems

Summary. In adapting a grid for a Computational Fluid Dynamics problem one uses a mapping from the unit square onto itself that is the solution of an elliptic partial differential equation with rapidly varying coefficients. For a regular discretization this mapping has to be invertible. We will show that such result holds for general elliptic operators (in two dimensions). The Carleman-Hartman-Wintner Theorem will be fundamental in our proof. We will also explain why such a general result cannot be expected to hold for the (three-dimensional) cube. Received March 1, 1994 / Revised version received March 8, 1995