Abstract: | An indirect time‐domain boundary element method (BEM) is presented here for the treatment of 2D elastodynamic problems. The approximated solution in this method is formulated as a linear combination of a set of particular solutions, which are called bases. The displacement and stress fields of a basis are analytically derived by means of solving Lame's displacement potentials. A semi‐collocation method is proposed to be the time‐stepping algorithm. This method is equivalent to a displacement discontinuity method with piecewise linear discontinuities in both space and time. The resulting time‐stepping scheme is explicit. The BEM is implemented to solve three numerical examples, Lamb's problem, half‐plane with a buried crack and Selberg's problem. Though Lamb's problem is considered a difficult problem for numerical methods, the current numerical results for the surface displacements show accurately the characteristics of the Rayleigh wave. This method is efficient and accurate. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |