Numerical analysis of interfacial two‐dimensional Stokes flow with discontinuous viscosity and variable surface tension

A fluid model of the incompressible Stokes equations in two space dimensions is used to simulate the motion of a droplet boundary separating two fluids with unequal viscosity and variable surface tension. Our theoretical analysis leads to decoupled jump conditions that are used in constructing the numerical algorithm. Numerical results agree with others in the literature and include some new findings that may apply to processes similar to cell cleavage. The method developed here accurately preserves area for our test problems. Some interesting observations are obtained with different choices of the parameters. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.