A note on finite difference discretizations for Poisson equation on a disk

A simple second-order finite difference treatment of polar coordinate singularity for Poisson equation on a disk is presented. By manipulating the grid point locations, we can successfully avoid finding numerical boundary condition at the origin so that the resulting matrix is simpler than traditional schemes. The treatments for Dirichlet and Neumann boundary problems are slightly different by adjusting the radial mesh width. Furthermore, the present discretization can be applied with slight modifications to Helmholtz-type equations. The numerical evidence shows that the second-order accuracy can also be preserved. (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.