Symmetric Galerkin Boundary Element Method presents an introduction as well as recent developments of this accurate, powerful, and versatile method. The formulation possesses the attractive feature of producing a symmetric coefficient matrix. In addition, the Galerkin approximation allows standard continuous elements to be used for evaluation of hypersingular integrals. FEATURES • Written in a form suitable for a graduate level textbook as well as a self-learning tutorial in the field. • Covers applications in two-dimensional and three-dimensional problems of potential theory and elasticity. Additional basic topics involve axisymmetry, multi-zone and interface formulations. More advanced topics include fluid flow (wave breaking over a sloping beach), non-homogeneous media, functionally graded materials (FGMs), anisotropic elasticity, error estimation, adaptivity, and fracture mechanics. • Presents integral equations as a basis for the formulation of general symmetric Galerkin boundary element methods and their corresponding numerical implementation. • Designed to convey effective unified procedures for the treatment of singular and hypersingular integrals that naturally arise in the method. Symbolic codes using Maple® for singular-type integrations are provided and discussed in detail. • The user-friendly adaptive computer code BEAN (Boundary Element ANalysis), fully written in Matlab®, is available as a companion to the text. The complete source code, including the graphical user-interface (GUI), can be downloaded from the web site http://www.ghpaulino.com/SGBEM_book. The source code can be used as the basis for building new applications, and should also function as an effective teaching tool. To facilitate the use of BEAN, a video tutorial and a library of practical examples are provided.

This work presents a thorough treatment of boundary element methods (BEM) for solving strongly elliptic boundary integral equations obtained from boundary reduction of elliptic boundary value problems in $\mathbb{R}^3$. The book is self-contained, the prerequisites on elliptic partial differential and integral equations being presented in Chapters 2 and 3. The main focus is on the development, analysis, and implementation of Galerkin boundary element methods, which is one of the most flexible and robust numerical discretization methods for integral equations. For the efficient realization of the Galerkin BEM, it is essential to replace time-consuming steps in the numerical solution process with fast algorithms. In Chapters 5-9 these methods are developed, analyzed, and formulated in an algorithmic way.

Traditional FEM and the more recent BEM underlie many engineering computational methods and corresponding software. Both methods have their merits and also their limitations. The combination of both methods will provide an improved numerical tool in the future. The aim of this book is to present significant basic formulations of FEM and BEM and to show their common practical and mathematical foundations, their differences and possibilities for their combination. These include variational foundations, FEM and BEM for linear and non-linear elasticity and potential problems, the combination of FEM-BEM asymptotic error analysis, modifications due to corner and crack singularities and corresponding improvement of convergence, plastic analysis, numerical algorithms and engineering applications.

The editors have published a select group of full length papers on boundary element analysis (BEA) photographed from camera ready manuscripts. The articles have been prepared by some of the most distinguished and prolific individuals in this field. More than half of these articles have been submitted by authors that participated in an International Forum on Boundary Element Methods, in Melbourne Australia, in the Summer of 1991. However, this volume is not a conference proceedings, as these authors have expanded their accounts to chapter length, and/or have tailored their expositions more toward the style employed in archival journal publications. The authors that did not participate in the International Forum have also adhered to the above mentioned philosophy. This work contains a definitive representation of the significant capabilities and applications currently available or under investigation that fall under the general category of advanced boundary element analysis. With treatments of mechanical, thermal, fluid, and electromagnetic phenomena, this book should thus be of value to graduate students, practitioners, and researchers in engineering, mathematics, and the physical sciences wishing to obtain a broader perspective or remain current in these important areas of computational simulation.