This book constitutes the edited proceedings of the Advanced Studies Institute on Boundary Element Techniques in Computer Aided Engineering held at The Institute of Computational Mechanics, Ashurst Lodge, Southampton, England, from September 19 to 30, 1984. The Institute was held under the auspices of the newly launched "Double Jump Programme" which aims to bring together academics and industrial scientists. Consequently the programme was more industr ially based than other NATO ASI meetings, achieving an excellent combination of theoretical and practical aspects of the newly developed Boundary Element Method. In recent years engineers have become increasingly interested in the application of boundary element techniques for'the solution of continuum mechanics problems. The importance of boundary elements is that it combines the advantages of boundary integral equations (i.e. reduction of dimensionality of the problems, possibility of modelling domains extending to infinity, numerical accura'cy) with the versatility of finite elements (i.e. modelling of arbitrary curved surfaces). Because of this the technique has been well received by the engineering and scientific communities. Another important advantage of boundary elements stems from its reduction of dimensionality, that is that the technique requires much less data input than classical finite elements. This makes the method very well suited for Computer Aided Design and in great part explains the interest of the engineering profession in the new technique.

This best-selling text provides a simple introduction to the Boundary Element Method. Based on the authors' long teaching experience it is designed to convey in the most effective manner the fundamentals of the method. The book is presented in a way which makes it accessible to both undergraduate and graduate students as well as to practising engineers who want to learn the foundations of the technique. Of particular interest is the way in which Boundary Element concepts are introduced and immediately applied in simple, but useful, computer codes to facilitate understanding. A CD with the complete listing of program codes in Fortran is also included.

VI SOCRATES: I think that we ought to stress that we will write only about things that we have first hand experience in, in a coherent way that will be useful to engineers and other scientists and stressing the formulation without being too mathematical. We should write with integrity and honesty, giving reference to other authors where reference is due, but avoiding mentioning everybody just to be certain that our book is widely advertised. Above all, the book should be clear and useful. PLATO: I think we should include a good discussion of fundamental ideas, of how integral equations are formed, pointing out that they are like two dimensional shadows of three dimensional objects, ... SOCRATES: Stop there! Remember you are not 'the' Plato! PLATO: Sorry, I was carried away. ARISTOTLE: I think that the book should have many applications so that the reader can learn by looking at them how to use the method. SOCRATES: I agree. But we should be careful. It is easy to include many illustra tions and examples in a book in order to disguise its meagre contents. All examples should be relevant. ARISTOTLE: And we should also include a full computer program to give the reader if so he wishes, a working experience of the technique.

The interest in finite element method as a solution technique of the computer age is reflected in the availability of many general and special purpose software based on this technique. This work aims to provide a complete and detailed explanation of the basics of the application areas.

Presents Boundary Element Method (BEM) in a simple fashion in order to help the beginner to understand the very basic principles of the method. This book initially derives BEM for the simplest potential problems, and subsequently builds on these to formulate BEM for a wide range of applications in electromagnetics.

This book discusses the introduction of isogeometric technology to the boundary element method (BEM) in order to establish an improved link between simulation and computer aided design (CAD) that does not require mesh generation. In the isogeometric BEM, non-uniform rational B-splines replace the Lagrange polynomials used in conventional BEM. This may seem a trivial exercise, but if implemented rigorously, it has profound implications for the programming, resulting in software that is extremely user friendly and efficient. The BEM is ideally suited for linking with CAD, as both rely on the definition of objects by boundary representation. The book shows how the isogeometric philosophy can be implemented and how its benefits can be maximised with a minimum of user effort. Using several examples, ranging from potential problems to elasticity, it demonstrates that the isogeometric approach results in a drastic reduction in the number of unknowns and an increase in the quality of the results. In some cases even exact solutions without refinement are possible. The book also presents a number of practical applications, demonstrating that the development is not only of academic interest. It then elegantly addresses heterogeneous and non-linear problems using isogeometric concepts, and tests them on several examples, including a severely non-linear problem in viscous flow. The book makes a significant contribution towards a seamless integration of CAD and simulation, which eliminates the need for tedious mesh generation and provides high-quality results with minimum user intervention and computing.