On solvability of a boundary integral equation of the first kind for Dirichlet boundary value problems in plane elasticity

The solution of a Dirichlet boundary value problem of plane isotropic elasticity by the boundary integral equation (BIE) of the first kind obtained from the Somigliana identity is considered. The logarithmic function appearing in the integral kernel leads to the possibility of this operator being non-invertible, the solution of the BIE either being non-unique or not existing. Such a situation occurs if the size of the boundary coincides with the so-called critical (or degenerate) scale for a certain form of the fundamental solution used. Techniques for the evaluation of these critical scales and for the removal of the non-uniqueness appearing in the problems with critical scales solved by the BIE of the first kind are proposed and analysed, and some recommendations for BEM code programmers based on the analysis presented are given.     

Boundary integral equation formulation for the generalized micro-polar thermoviscoelasticity

A formulation of the boundary integral equation method for generalized linear micro-polar thermoviscoelasticity is given. Fundamental solutions, in Laplace transform domain, of the corresponding differential equations are obtained. The initial, mixed boundary value problem is considered as an example illustrating the BIE formulation. The results are applicable to the generalized thermoelasticity theories: Lord-Shulman with one relaxation time, Green-Lindsay with two relaxation times, Green-Naghdi theories, and Chandrasekharaiah and Tzou with dual-phase lag, as well as to the dynamic coupled theory. The cases of generalized linear micro-polar thermoviscoelasticity of Kelvin-Voigt model, generalized linear thermoviscoelasticity and generalized thermoelasticity can be obtained from the given results.     

A boundary element method for a second order elliptic partial differential equation with variable coefficients

A boundary element method is derived for solving a class of boundary value problems governed by an elliptic second order linear partial differential equation with variable coefficients. Numerical results are given for a specific test problem.     

Degenerate scale for the analysis of circular thin plate using the boundary integral equation method and boundary element methods

In this paper, the degenerate scale for plate problem is studied. For the continuous model, we use the null-field integral equation, Fourier series and the series expansion in terms of degenerate kernel for fundamental solutions to examine the solvability of BIEM for circular thin plates. Any two of the four boundary integral equations in the plate formulation may be chosen. For the discrete model, the circulant is employed to determine the rank deficiency of the influence matrix. Both approaches, continuous and discrete models, lead to the same result of degenerate scale. We study the nonunique solution analytically for the circular plate and find degenerate scales. The similar properties of solvability condition between the membrane (Laplace) and plate (biharmonic) problems are also examined. The number of degenerate scales for the six boundary integral formulations is also determined. Tel.: 886-2-2462-2192-ext. 6140 or 6177     

A fast multipole boundary element method for 2D multi-domain elastostatic problems based on a dual BIE formulation

A new fast multipole formulation for the hypersingular BIE (HBIE) for 2D elasticity is presented in this paper based on a complex-variable representation of the kernels, similar to the formulation developed earlier for the conventional BIE (CBIE). A dual BIE formulation using a linear combination of the developed CBIE and HBIE is applied to analyze multi-domain problems with thin inclusions or open cracks. Two pre-conditioners for the fast multipole boundary element method (BEM) are devised and their effectiveness and efficiencies in solving large-scale problems are discussed. Several numerical examples are presented to study the accuracy and efficiency of the developed fast multipole BEM using the dual BIE formulation. The numerical results clearly demonstrate the potentials of the fast multipole BEM for solving large-scale 2D multi-domain elasticity problems. The method can be applied to study composite materials, functionally-graded materials, and micro-electro-mechanical-systems with coupled fields, all of which often involve thin shapes or thin inclusions.     

Boundary element formulation for the coupled stretching-bending analysis of thin laminated plates

The boundary integral equations for the coupled stretching-bending analysis of thin laminated plates involve an integral which will be singular when the field point approaches the source point. To avoid the singular problem occurring in the numerical programming, the boundary integral equations are modified in which the integrals of singular part are integrated analytically. The analytical solutions for the free term coefficients and singular integrals are obtained in explicit closed-form. By dividing the boundary into elements and using suitable interpolation polynomials for basic functions, the set of equations necessary for boundary element programming are written explicitly for regular nodes and corner nodes. The equations for the determination of displacements and stresses at internal points are also presented in this paper.     

An integral equation formulation of anti-plane inhomogeneities

In this paper, a boundary integral equation formulation for anti-plane shear inhomogeneous medium is presented to study the interaction between the inhomogeneities and cracks. The proposed boundary integral equation formulation only contains out-of-plane interface displacements and out-of-plane discontinuous displacements over cracks. Numerical implementation is simple since the present formulation has considered the shear equilibrium condition over the interfaces between the matrix and inhomogeneities. Out-of-plane interface displacements and out-of-plane traction integral equations are collocated respectively on the matrix–inhomogeneity interfaces and on one side of the crack surface. Numerical examples are given to show the validity and numerical accuracy of the present method.     

Boundary-domain integral method using a velocity-vorticity formulation

The paper deals with the numerical solution of fluid dynamics (transport phenomena in incompressible fluid flow) using a boundary-domain integral method. A velocity-vorticity formulation of the Navier-Stokes equations is adopted, where the kinematic equation is written in its parabolic version.     

Boundary integral equation method to solve embedded planar crack problems under shear loading

The solution of three-dimensional planar cracks under shear loading are investigated by the boundary integral equation method. A system of two hypersingular integral equations of a three-dimensional elastic solid with an embedded planar crack are given. The solution of the boundary integral equations is succeeded taking into consideration an appropriate Gauss quadrature rule for finite part integrals which is suitable for the numerical treatment of any plane crack without a polygonal contour shape and permit the fast convergence for the results. The stress intensity factors at the crack front are calculated in the case of a circular and an elliptic crack and are compared with the analytical solution.     

Boundary integral equation supported differential quadrature method to solve problems over general irregular geometries

Based on the interpolation technique with the aid of boundary integral equations, a new differential quadrature method has been developed (boundary integral equation supported differential quadrature method, BIE-DQM) to solve boundary value problems over generally irregular geometries. The quadrature rule of the BIE-DQM is that the first and the second derivatives of a function with respect to independent variables are approximated by a weighted linear combination of the function values at all discrete nodal points and the corresponding normal derivatives at all boundary points. Several numerical examples are considered to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.     

Time marching integral equation method for unsteady transonic flows around airfoils

A time marching integral equation method has been proposed here which does not have the limitation of the time linearized integral equation method in that the latter method can not satisfactorily simulate the shock wave motions. Firstly, a model problem–one dimensional initial and boundary value wave problem is treated to clarify the basic idea of the new method. Then the method is implemented for two dimensional unsteady transonic flow problems. The introduction of the concept of a quasi-velocity-potential simplifies the time marching integral equations and the treatment of trailing vortex sheet condition. The numerical calculations show that the method is reasonable and reliable.     

An immersed finite element method with integral equation correction

We propose a robust immersed finite element method in which an integral equation formulation is used to enforce essential boundary conditions. The solution of a boundary value problem is expressed as the superposition of a finite element solution and an integral equation solution. For computing the finite element solution, the physical domain is embedded into a slightly larger Cartesian (box‐shaped) domain and is discretized using a block‐structured mesh. The defect in the essential boundary conditions, which occurs along the physical domain boundaries, is subsequently corrected with an integral equation method. In order to facilitate the mapping between the finite element and integral equation solutions, the physical domain boundary is represented with a signed distance function on the block‐structured mesh. As a result, only a boundary mesh of the physical domain is necessary and no domain mesh needs to be generated, except for the non‐boundary‐conforming block‐structured mesh. The overall approach is first presented for the Poisson equation and then generalized to incompressible viscous flow equations. As an example of fluid–structure coupling, the settling of a heavy rigid particle in a closed tank is considered. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Boundary element analysis of anisotropic rock masses

A boundary element formulation is developed for anisotropic elastic rock masses. The boundary element treatment in which the fundamental solutions of Lekhnitskii have been incorporated, and the numerical evaluation of integrals with singularities are discussed. Good agreement found between the numerical and analytical solutions for several example problems demonstrates the capability, accuracy and efficiency of the present formulation. The problem of a deep circular tunnel excavated in a variety of jointed rock masses has also been analysed using the present formulation. The effect of the jointing on the behaviour of the rock mass around the tunnel is evaluated.     

A new boundary integral equation method for cracked 2-D anisotropic bodies

By using integration by parts to the traditional boundary integral formulation, a traction boundary integral equation for cracked 2-D anisotropic bodies is derived. The new traction integral equation involves only singularity of order 1/r and no hypersingular term appears. The dislocation densities on the crack surface are introduced and the relations between stress intensity factors and dislocation densities near the crack tip are induced to calculate the stress intensity factors. The boundary element method based on the new equation is established and the singular interpolation functions are introduced to model the singularity of the dislocation density (in the order of ) for crack tip elements. The proposed method can be directly used for the 2-D anisotropic body containing cracks of arbitrary geometric shapes. Several numerical examples demonstrate the validity and accuracy of BEM based on the new boundary integral equation.     

Continuous-time state-space unsteady aerodynamic modeling based on boundary element method

In this paper a continuous-time state-space aerodynamic model is developed based on the boundary element method. Boundary integral equations governing the unsteady potential flow around lifting bodies are presented and modified for thin wing configurations. Next, the BEM discretized problem of unsteady flow around flat wing equivalent to the original geometry is recast into the standard form of a continuous-time state-space model considering some auxiliary assumptions. The system inputs are time derivative of the instantaneous effective angle of attack and thickness/camber correction terms while the outputs are unsteady aerodynamic coefficients. To validate the model, its predictions for aerodynamic coefficients variations due to the various unsteady motions about different wing geometries are compared to the results of the direct BEM computations and verified numerical and theoretical solutions. This comparison indicates a good agreement. Since the resulting aerodynamic model is in the continuous-time domain, it is particularly useful for optimization and nonlinear analysis purposes. Moreover, its state-space representation is the appropriate form for an aerodynamic model in design or control applications.     

Initial value problem formulation of time domain boundary element method for electromagnetic microwave simulations

To aim to obtain more stable solutions and wider area applications for the Time Domain Boundary Element Method (TDBEM), initial value problem formulation of the TDBEM is newly introduced for microwave simulations. The initial value problem formulation of the TDBEM allows us to solve transient microwave phenomena as interior region problems, which gives us well matrix property and interior resonance free solutions. This paper concentrates on applying the initial value problem formulation of the TDBEM to wake field phenomena in particle accelerator cavities.     

On the Cauchy principal value of the surface integral in the boundary integral equation of 3D elasticity

A simple demonstration of the existence of the Cauchy principal value (CPV) of the strongly singular surface integral in the Somigliana Identity at a non-smooth boundary point is presented. First a regularization of the strongly singular integral by analytical integration of the singular term in the radial direction in pre-image planes of smooth surface patches is carried out. Then it is shown that the sum of the angular integrals of the characteristic of the tractions of the Kelvin fundamental solution is zero, a formula for the transformation of angles between the tangent plane of a suface patch and the pre-image plane at smooth mapping of the surface patch being derived for this purpose.     

Wavelet BEM for large‐scale Stokes flows based on the direct integral formulation

This paper describes a new wavelet boundary element method (WBEM) for large‐scale simulations of three‐dimensional Stokes problems. It is based on a Galerkin formulation and uses only one set of wavelet basis. A method for the efficient discretization and compression of the double‐layer integral operator of Stokes equation is proposed. In addition, a compression strategy for further reducing the setting‐up time for the sparse system matrix is also developed. With these new developments, the method has demonstrated a high matrix compression rate for problems with complicated geometries. Applications of the method are illustrated through several examples concerning the modeling of damping forces acting on MEMS resonators including a cantilever resonator oscillating in an unbounded air and a perforated plate resonator oscillating next to a fixed substrate. The numerical results clearly illustrate the efficiency and accuracy of the developed WBEM in these large‐scale Stokes flow simulations. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A multidomain boundary element method for two equation turbulence models

The paper deals with the multidomain Boundary Element Method (BEM) for modelling 2D complex turbulent flow using low Reynolds two equation turbulence models. While the BEM is widely accepted for laminar flow this is the first case, where this method is applied for a complex flow problems using k–ε turbulence model. The integral boundary domain equations are discretised using mixed boundary elements and a multidomain method also known as subdomain technique. The resulting system matrix is overdetermined, sparse, block banded and solved using fast iterative linear least squares solver. The simulation of turbulent flow over a backward step is in excellent agreement with the finite volume method using the same turbulent model.     

A practical method for singular integral equations of the second kind

A convenient and efficient numerical method is presented for the treatment of Cauchy type singular integral equations of the second kind. The solution is achieved by splitting the Cauchy singular term into two parts, allowing one of the parts to be determined in a closed-form while the other part is evaluated by standard Gauss-Jacobi mechanical quadrature. Since the Cauchy singularity is removed after this manipulation, the quadrature abscissas and weights may be readily available and the placement of the collocation points is flexible in the present method. The method is exact when the unknown function can be expressed as the product of a fundamental function and a polynomial of degree less than the number of the integration points. The proposed algorithm can also be extended to the case where the singularities are complex and is found equally effective. The proposed algorithm is easy to implement and provides a shortcut for programming the numerical solution to the singular integral equation of the second kind.