The fast multipole method is one of the most important algorithms in computing developed in the 20th century. Along with the fast multipole method, the boundary element method (BEM) has also emerged as a powerful method for modeling large-scale problems. BEM models with millions of unknowns on the boundary can now be solved on desktop computers using the fast multipole BEM. This is the first book on the fast multipole BEM, which brings together the classical theories in BEM formulations and the recent development of the fast multipole method. Two- and three-dimensional potential, elastostatic, Stokes flow, and acoustic wave problems are covered, supplemented with exercise problems and computer source codes. Applications in modeling nanocomposite materials, bio-materials, fuel cells, acoustic waves, and image-based simulations are demonstrated to show the potential of the fast multipole BEM. Enables students, researchers, and engineers to learn the BEM and fast multipole method from a single source.

This volume contains eight state of the art contributions on mathematical aspects and applications of fast boundary element methods in engineering and industry. This covers the analysis and numerics of boundary integral equations by using differential forms, preconditioning of hp boundary element methods, the application of fast boundary element methods for solving challenging problems in magnetostatics, the simulation of micro electro mechanical systems, and for contact problems in solid mechanics. Other contributions are on recent results on boundary element methods for the solution of transient problems. This book is addressed to researchers, graduate students and practitioners working on and using boundary element methods. All contributions also show the great achievements of interdisciplinary research between mathematicians and engineers, with direct applications in engineering and industry.

The Boundary Element Method (BEM) has long been considered to be a viable alternative to the Finite Element Method (FEM) for doing engineering analysis. The BEM reduces the dimensions of the problem by one and leads to smaller system of equations. One of the inherent limitations of the BEM has been the long time required for the solution of large problems. This makes the BEM prohibitively expensive to use while solving large problems involving crack propagation, elastodynamics, etc. This thesis is a successful attempt at reducing the solution time for the BEM. An iterative solver has been developed and the advantages it offers over the direct solver have been presented. The fast multipole method is a method used to reduce the number of computations while solving N body problems in astrophysics and molecular dynamics. A numerical formulation for accelerating the computation of boundary integrals based on the fast multipole method has been presented. An algorithm has been developed and it has been applied to the BEM for two-dimensional potential problems. It has been found that the use of this algorithm leads to savings in CPU time for large number of nodes. This method is very promising and future research can concentrate on improving the code so that more significant savings in time can be obtained.

This volume, dedicated to Professor Dimitri Beskos, contains contributions from leading researchers in Europe, the USA, Japan and elsewhere, and addresses the needs of the computational mechanics research community in terms of timely information on boundary integral equation-based methods and techniques applied to a variety of fields. The contributors are well-known scientists, who also happen to be friends, collaborators as past students of Dimitri Beskos. Dimitri is one the BEM pioneers who started his career at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, USA, in the 1970s and is now with the University of Patras in Patras, Greece. The book is essentially a collection of both original and review articles on contemporary Boundary Element Methods (BEM) as well as on the newer Mesh Reduction Methods (MRM), covering a variety of research topics. Close to forty contributions compose an over-500 page volume that is rich in detail and wide in terms of breadth of coverage of the subject of integral equation formulations and solutions in both solid and fluid mechanics.

The boundary element method (BEM), also known as the boundary integral equation method (BIEM), is a modern numerical technique. It is an established alternative to traditional computational methods of engineering analysis. This book provides a comprehensive account of the method and its application to problems in engineering and science.