Publisher's Synopsis
The Boundary Element Method (BEM) is now being increasingly applied to new topics in engineering. This has led researchers to investigate and develop new formulations of the method which lend themselves better to problems such as fracture mechanics, coupling with finite elements, moving boundary applications and nonlinear problems. This book presents new boundary element formulations which are now emerging as viable alternatives for a wide range of complex problems.;Some of the new formulations presented are concerned with the dual BEM for crack problems in fracture mechanics, which makes the use of subregions unnecessary, and solutions for domain integral problems, such as time dependant convection diffusion and elastodynamics. The latter utilizes the reciprocity relationship several times resulting in higher order fundamental solutions. The hybrid-stress formulation and hybird-displacement approach are discussed, which enable simple coupling with finite elements. A detailed description is presented of the uniform cub B-spine and non-uniform blending functions and their implementation into the Bounday Element formulations, and in Chapter 7 a formulation which enables the more accurate evaluation of temperature gradients is described.;The presented formulations are supported with many examples to demonstrate their accuracy and versatility, making this a very useful reference volume. It should be directly relevant to mechanical engineers, and any other worker within the engineering field involved with problem solving.
