Iterative solution of systems of equations in the dual reciprocity boundary element method for the diffusion equation

In this paper the diffusion equation is solved in two-dimensional geometry by the dual reciprocity boundary element method (DRBEM). It is structured by fully implicit discretization over time and by weighting with the fundamental solution of the Laplace equation. The resulting domain integral of the diffusive term is transformed into two boundary integrals by using Green's second identity, and the domain integral of the transience term is converted into a finite series of boundary integrals by using dual reciprocity interpolation based on scaled augmented thin plate spline global approximation functions. Straight line geometry and constant field shape functions for boundary discretization are employed. The described procedure results in systems of equations with fully populated unsymmetric matrices. In the case of solving large problems, the solution of these systems by direct methods may be very time consuming. The present study investigates the possibility of using iterative methods for solving these systems of equations. It was demonstrated that Krylov-type methods like CGS and GMRES with simple Jacobi preconditioning appeared to be efficient and robust with respect to the problem size and time step magnitude. This paper can be considered as a logical starting point for research of iterative solutions to DRBEM systems of equations. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A boundary element method for elastic buckling analysis of assembled plate structures

In this paper, we first discuss the integral equation formulation for the buckling problem of a single plate, using the biharmonic fundamental solution for the plate bending problems. The so called boundary-element method previously proposed by the senior author is applied to the numerical solution of the resulting set of integral equations. The total set of simultaneous equations are derived for nodal unknowns taken out of the whole domain, and reduced to an algebraic set of eigenvalue equations. The proposed method is method to the solution of elastic buckling of assembled plate structures. A few examples are computed and results obtained are compared with other solutions to demonstrate the potential usefulness of the proposed method.     

A comparison of different methods to solve inverse biharmonic boundary value problems

The Boundary Element Method (BEM) is applied to solve numerically some inverse boundary value problems associated to the biharmonic equation which involve over‐ and under‐specified boundary portions of the solution domain. The resulting ill‐conditioned system of linear equations is solved using the regularization and the minimal energy methods, followed by a further application of the Singular Value Decomposition Method (SVD). The regularization method incorporates a smoothing effect into the least squares functional, whilst the minimal energy method is based on minimizing the energy functional for the Laplace equation subject to the linear constraints generated by the BEM discretization of the biharmonic equation. The numerical results are compared with known analytical solutions and the stability of the numerical solution is investigated by introducing noise into the input data. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Biharmonic analysis of rectilinear plates by the boundary element method

An improved boundary element formulation (BEM) for two-dimensional non-homogeneous biharmonic analysis of rectilinear plates is presented. A boundary element formulation is developed from a coupled set of Poisson-type boundary integral equations derived from the governing non-homogeneous biharmonic equation. Emphasis is given to the development of exact expressions for the piecewise rectilinear boundary integration of the fundamental solution and its derivatives over several types of isoparametric elements. Incorporation of the explicit form of the integrations into the boundary element formulation improves the computational accuracy of the solution by substantially eliminating the error introduced by numerical quadrature, particularly those errors encountered near singularities. In addition, the single iterative nature of the exact calculations reduces the time necessary to compile the boundary system matrices and also provides a more rapid evaluation of internal point values than do formulations using regular numerical quadrature techniques. The evaluation of the domain integrations associated with biharmonic forms of the non-homogeneous terms of the governing equation are transformed to an equivalent set of boundary integrals. Transformations of this type are introduced to avoid the difficulties of domain integration. The resulting set of boundary integrals describing the domain contribution is generally evaluated numerically; however, some exact expressions for several commonly encountered non-homogeneous terms are used. Several numerical solutions of the deflection of rectilinear plates using the boundary element method (BEM) are presented and compared to existing numerical or exact solutions.     

The BEM for plates of variable thickness on nonlinear biparametric elastic foundation. An analog equation solution

The BEM is developed for the analysis of plates with variable thickness resting on a nonlinear biparametric elastic foundation. The presented solution is achieved using the Analog Equation Method (AEM). According to the AEM the fourth-order partial differential equation with variable coefficients describing the response of the plate is converted to an equivalent linear problem for a plate with constant stiffness not resting on foundation and subjected only to an `appropriate' fictitious load under the same boundary conditions. The fictitious load is established using a technique based on the BEM and the solution of the actual problem is obtained from the known integral representation of the solution of the substitute problem, which is derived using the static fundamental solution of the biharmonic equation. The method is boundary-only in the sense that the discretization and the integration are performed only on the boundary. To illustrate the method and its efficiency, plates of various shapes are analyzed with linear and quadratic plate thickness variation laws resting on a nonlinear biparametric elastic foundation.     

A boundary element method solution for anisotropic nonhomogeneous elasticity

A new BEM approach is presented for the plane elastostatic problem for nonhomogeneous anisotropic bodies. In this case the response of the body is described by two coupled linear second order partial differential equations in terms of displacement with variable coefficient. The incapability of establishing the fundamental solution of the governing equations is overcome by uncoupling them using the concept of analog equation, which converts them to two Poisson’s equations, whose fundamental solution is known and the necessary boundary integral equations are readily obtained. This formulation introduces two additional unknown field functions, which physically represent the two components of a fictitious source. Subsequently, they are determined by approximating them globally with radial basis functions series. The displacements and the stresses are evaluated from the integral representation of the solution of the substitutes equations. The presented method maintains the pure boundary character of the BEM. The obtained numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness and accuracy of the method.     

Boundary integral equation method for two dissimilar elastic inclusions in an infinite plate

This paper provides a numerical solution for an infinite plate containing two dissimilar elastic inclusions, which is based on complex variable boundary integral equation (CVBIE). The original problem is decomposed into two problems. One is an interior boundary value problem (BVP) for two elastic inclusions, while other is an exterior BVP for the matrix with notches. After performing discretization for the coupled boundary integral equations (BIEs), a system of algebraic equations is formulated. The inverse matrix technique is suggested to solve the relevant algebraic equations, which can avoid using the assembling of some matrices. Several numerical examples are carried out to prove the efficiency of suggested method and the hoop stress along the interface boundary is evaluated.     

A boundary integral equation method for plate flexure with conditions inside the domain

A method for solving boundary value problems for thin plate flexure as described by Kirchhoff's theory is proposed. An integral formulation leads to a system of boundary integral equations involving values of deflection, slope, bending moment and transverse shear force along the edge. A discretization leading to a matrix formulation is proposed. To solve problems with inner conditions in the plate domain, an elimination of boundary unknowns proves successful. The degenerate case where the boundary is free (which leads to a non-invertible matrix) is investigated. Three examples illustrate the efficiency of the method.     

Application of boundary integral method to elastoplastic analysis of V-notched beams

The boundary integral equation method was applied in the solution of the plane elastoplastic problems. The use of this method was illustrated by obtaining stress and strain distributions for a number of specimens with a single edge notch and subjected to pure bending. The boundary integral equation method reduced the non-homogeneous biharmonic equation to two coupled Fredholm-type integral equations. These integral equations were replaced by a system of simultaneous algebraic equations and solved numerically in conjunction with the method of successive elastic solutions.     

A new method for the determination of the flexural rigidity of an orthotropic plate

In this paper a new method for the determination of flexural rigidities in orthotropic plate bending problems is presented. Boundary integral equations are established for the curvatures and the deflections inside the domain. By a simple discretization of the boundary and the inside plate, the elimination of curvatures is possible. If the fundamental solution of isotropic plates is chosen, then a linear system of n equations with three unknowns is obtained. These equations are provided by the knowledge of the deflections inside the plates, and the unknowns are the flexural rigidities. By using the least square method, the computation of these rigidities becomes easy.     

Boundary integral equation solution of viscous flows with free surfaces

Summary solutions of the biharmonic equation governing steady two-dimensional viscous flow of an incompressible Newtonian fluid are obtained by employing a direct biharmonic boundary integral equation (BBIE) method in which Green's theorem is used to reformulate the differential equation as a pair of coupled integral equations which are applied only on the boundary of the solution domain.An iterative modification of the classical BBIE is presented which is able to solve a large class of (nonlinear) viscous free surface flows for a wide range of surface tensions. The method requires a knowledge of the asymptotic behaviour of the free surface profile in the limiting case of infinite surface tension but this can usually be obtained from a perturbation analysis. Unlike space discretisation techniques such as finite difference or finite element, the BBIE evaluates only boundary information on each iteration. Once the solution is evaluated on the boundary the solution at interior points can easily be obtained.     

On the method of functional equations and the performance of desingularized boundary element methods

A correspondence is made between the reciprocal relation for linear elliptic partial differential equations and the Riesz integral representation. The former relates the boundary distributions and appropriate normal fluxes of two arbitrary solutions, and the latter expresses a continuous linear functional in terms of an integral involving a representing function. When sufficient regularity conditions are met, the representing function is identified with the unknown boundary distribution. In principle, the representing function may be expressed in terms of the images of a complete set of orthonormal basis functions with known normal fluxes, as suggested by Kupradze [Kupradze VD. On the approximate solution of problems in mathematical physics. Russ Math Surv 1967; 22: 59–107]; in practice, the representing function is computed by solving integral equations using boundary element methods. The basic procedure involves expressing the representing function in terms of finite-element or other basis functions, and requiring the satisfaction of the reciprocal relationship with a suitable set of test functions such as Green's functions and their dipoles. When the singular points are placed at the boundary, we obtain the standard boundary integral equation method. When the singular points are placed outside the domain of solution, we obtain a system of functional equations and associated class of desingularized boundary integral methods. When sufficient regularity conditions are met and the test functions comprise a complete set, then in the limit of infinite discretization the numerical solution converges to the unknown boundary distribution. An overview of formulations is presented with reference to Laplace's equation in two dimensions. Numerical experimentation shows that, in general, the solution obtained by desingularized methods becomes increasingly less accurate as the singular points of Green's functions move farther away from the boundary, but the loss of accuracy is significant only when the exact solution shows pronounced variations. Exceptions occur when the integral equation does not have a unique solution. In contrast, and in agreement with previous findings, the condition number of the linear system increases rapidly with the distance of the singular points from the boundary, to the extent that a dependable solution cannot be obtained when the singularities are located even a moderate distance away from the boundary. The desingularized formulation based on Green's function dipoles is superior in accuracy and reliability to the one that uses Green functions. The implementation of the method to the equations of elastostatics and Stokes flow are also discussed.     

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 meshless local boundary integral equation method for dynamic anti-plane shear crack problem in functionally graded materials

This paper presents a meshless local boundary integral equation method (LBIEM) for dynamic analysis of an anti-plane crack in functionally graded materials (FGMs). Local boundary integral equations (LBIEs) are formulated in the Laplace-transform domain. The static fundamental solution for homogeneous elastic solids is used to derive the local boundary–domain integral equations, which are applied to small sub-domains covering the analyzed domain. For the sub-domains a circular shape is chosen, and their centers, the nodal points, correspond to the collocation points. The local boundary–domain integral equations are solved numerically in the Laplace-transform domain by a meshless method based on the moving least–squares (MLS) scheme. Time-domain solutions are obtained by using the Stehfest's inversion algorithm. Numerical examples are given to show the accuracy of the proposed meshless LBIEM.     

A general integral equation formulatin for homogeneous orthotropic potential problems

In this paper an integral equation formulation is proposed for the analysis of orthotropic potential problems. The two primary integral equations of the method are derived from the original governing differential equation firstly by rewriting it in a slightly different form and then applying the direct boundary element method formulation. The solution procedure is based on the use of the fundamental solutions for the isotropic potential case and special attention is given to the differentiation of a singular integral which yields an additional term as well as to the evaluation of the resulting Cauchy principal value integral. A simple discretization for the boundary and its interior domain is adopted in order to express the primary integral equations of the method in matrix form. Three examples are presented, the results of which illustrate the satisfactory accuracy of the method. The main feature of the proposed formulation is its generality, which makes possible its direct extension to solve such as heat conduction or subsurface flow in anisotropic media and, foremost, to orthotropic and anisotropic elasticity or elastoplasticity.     

Local discretization error bounds using interval boundary element method

In this paper, a method to account for the point‐wise discretization error in the solution for boundary element method is developed. Interval methods are used to enclose the boundary integral equation and a sharp parametric solver for the interval linear system of equations is presented. The developed method does not assume any special properties besides the Laplace equation being a linear elliptic partial differential equation whose Green's function for an isotropic media is known. Numerical results are presented showing the guarantee of the bounds on the solution as well as the convergence of the discretization error. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Time domain boundary element formulation for partially saturated poroelasticity

Based on the Mixture theory and the principles of continuum mechanics, a dynamic three-phase model for partially saturated poroelasticity is established as well as the corresponding governing equations in Laplace domain. The three-dimensional fundamental solutions are deduced following Hörmander's method. Based on the weighted residual method, the boundary integral equations are established. The boundary element formulation in time domain for partially saturated media is obtained after regularization by partial integration, spatial discretization, and the time discretization with the Convolution Quadrature Method. The proposed formulation is validated with the semi-analytical one-dimensional solution of a column. Studies with respect to the spatial and temporal discretization show its sensitivity on a fine enough mesh. A half-space example allows to study the wave fronts. Finally, the proposed formulation is used to compute the vibration isolation of an open trench.     

Maurice Jaswon and boundary element methods

In the direct boundary integral equation method, boundary-value problems are reduced to integral equations by an application of Green's theorem to the unknown function and a fundamental solution (Green's function). Discretization of the integral equation then leads to a boundary element method. This approach was pioneered by Jaswon and his students in the early 1960s. Jaswon's work is reviewed together with his influence on later workers.     

The use of Stokes' fundamental solution for the boundary only element formulation of the three-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations for moderate Reynolds numbers

This paper presents a boundary element formulation for the permanent Navier–Stokes equations in which the well-known closed-form fundamental solution for the steady Stokes equations is employed. In this way, from the integral representation formulae for the Stokes' equations, an integral equation is found in which the original non-linear convective terms of the Navier–Stokes equations appear as a domain integral. Additionally, the method of dual reciprocity is used to transform the domain integral to boundary integrals (this method is closely related to the method of particular integrals also used in the literature to transform domain integrals to boundary integrals). Numerical results are presented for the three-dimensional internal flow in a cylindrical container with a rotating cover, in which the accuracy of the method is shown.     

Radial integration BEM for transient heat conduction problems

In this paper, a new boundary element analysis approach is presented for solving transient heat conduction problems based on the radial integration method. The normalized temperature is introduced to formulate integral equations, which makes the representation very simple and having no temperature gradients involved. The Green's function for the Laplace equation is adopted in deriving basic integral equations for time-dependent problems with varying heat conductivities and, as a result, domain integrals are involved in the derived integral equations. The radial integration method is employed to convert the domain integrals into equivalent boundary integrals. Based on the central finite difference technique, an implicit time marching solution scheme is developed for solving the time-dependent system of equations. Numerical examples are given to demonstrate the correctness of the presented approach.