Symmetric collocation BEM/FEM coupling procedure for 2-D dynamic structural–acoustic interaction problems

 This paper presents a symmetric collocation BEM (SCBEM)/FEM coupling procedure applicable to 2-D time domain structural–acoustic interaction problems. The use of symmetry for BEM not only saves memory storage but also enables the employment of efficient symmetric equation solvers, especially for BEM/FEM coupling procedure. Compared with symmetric Galerkin BEM (SGBEM) where double boundary integration should be carried out, SCBEM can reduce significantly the computing cost. Two numerical examples are included to illustrate the effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed method. Received: 2 November 2001 / Accepted: 27 May 2002