Covering the latest developments in the field of boundary elements, this work contains a selection of papers presented at the 21st International Conference on the topic. The 70 papers have been contributed by researchers from many countries and are divided under various headings.

Over the past decades, the Boundary Element Method has emerged as a ver satile and powerful tool for the solution of engineering problems, presenting in many cases an alternative to the more widely used Finite Element Method. As with any numerical method, the engineer or scientist who applies it to a practical problem needs to be acquainted with, and understand, its basic principles to be able to apply it correctly and be aware of its limitations. It is with this intention that we have endeavoured to write this book: to give the student or practitioner an easy-to-understand introductory course to the method so as to enable him or her to apply it judiciously. As the title suggests, this book not only serves as an introductory course, but also cov ers some advanced topics that we consider important for the researcher who needs to be up-to-date with new developments. This book is the result of our teaching experiences with the Boundary Element Method, along with research and consulting activities carried out in the field. Its roots lie in a graduate course on the Boundary Element Method given by the authors at the university of Stuttgart. The experiences gained from teaching and the remarks and questions of the students have contributed to shaping the 'Introductory course' (Chapters 1-8) to the needs of the stu dents without assuming a background in numerical methods in general or the Boundary Element Method in particular.

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.

Covering state-of-the-art developments in this field of engineering analysis, this volume consists of the papers presented at an international conference devoted to the boundary element method. It addresses areas of active research related to the BEM community, such as meshless techniques, advanced formulations and high performance computing. Further work in the dual reciprocity method is also discussed. Other papers reflect late-20th century advances in fluid dynamics, fracture and damage mechanics, acoustics and electromagnetism, while there is also a section on the industrial implementation of the technique, and the way in which it can be used as a tool.

This title is devoted to the formulation and implementation of new reliable and efficient error indicators capable of providing adaptive meshing processes in the Boundary Element Method (BEM). It is organised in four sections. The first gives a review of the basic equations of solid mechanics, while the second presents the boundary integral equations required to formulate conventional and higher order boundary elements. The third section focuses on the computation of the stresses on the boundary and provides an attractive alternative global re-analysis technique which can be used to obtain accurate values for those quantities. In the final section the authors review some of the most relevant error indicators that have been proposed and present two new alternatives that can be used to estimate the error in the numerical solution obtained with the BEM.The self-contained treatment of topics and the new alternatives proposed to compute reliable and efficient error indicators make this text a valuable reference for readers interested in learning about adaptive meshing techniques, as well as for researchers working in the field.

The book outlines special approaches using singular and non-singular, multi-domain and meshless BEM formulations, hybrid- and reciprocity-based FEM for the solution of linear and non-linear problems of solid and fluid mechanics and for the acoustic fluid-structure interaction. Use of Trefftz functions and other regularization approaches to boundary integral equations (BIE), boundary contour and boundary node solution of BIE, sensitivity analysis, shape optimization, error analysis and adaptivity, stress and displacement derivatives in non-linear problems smoothing using Trefftz polynomials and other special numerical approaches are included. Applications to problems such as noise radiation from rolling bodies, acoustic radiation in closed and infinite domains, 3D dynamic piezoelectricity, Stefan problems and coupled problems are included.

This volume on some recent aspects of finite element methods and their applications is dedicated to Ulrich Langer and Arnd Meyer on the occasion of their 60th birthdays in 2012. Their work combines the numerical analysis of finite element algorithms, their efficient implementation on state of the art hardware architectures, and the collaboration with engineers and practitioners. In this spirit, this volume contains contributions of former students and collaborators indicating the broad range of their interests in the theory and application of finite element methods. Topics cover the analysis of domain decomposition and multilevel methods, including hp finite elements, hybrid discontinuous Galerkin methods, and the coupling of finite and boundary element methods; the efficient solution of eigenvalue problems related to partial differential equations with applications in electrical engineering and optics; and the solution of direct and inverse field problems in solid mechanics.

Since its origin in 1978, the International Conference on Boundary Element Methods has provided the recognized and established forum for innovations in boundary element research. Practically all new ideas on boundary ele ments have been presented at these conferences and the resulting papers can be found in the published books. The conference brings together the most renowned scientists and engineers working on boundary element research throughout the world. A unique feature of these meetings is that the participation of younger researchers is actively encouraged by the organizers in an effort to .bring forward to the attention of the international community an ever expanding range of new ideas. This book contains the edited version of the papers presented at the XIIIth BEM Conference held in Tulsa, Oklahoma in August of 1991. The meeting attracted a large number of participants and many excellent contributions which have been divided into nineteen different sections, i.e. Potential Prob lems; Diffusion and Convection Problems; Fluid Mechanics; Fluid Flow; Wave Propagation; Groundwater Flow; Heat Transfer; Electrical Problems; Geomechanics; Plates and Shells; Inelastic Problems; Damage Tolerance; Contact Mechanics; Industrial Applications; Design Sensitivity and Opti mization; Inverse Problems; Special Techniques; Numerical Aspects and Computational Aspects.

The boundary element method (BEM) is a modern numerical techniquewhich has enjoyed increasing popularity over the last two decades,and is now an established alternative to traditional computationalmethods of engineering analysis. The main advantage of the BEM isits unique ability to provide a complete solution in terms ofboundary values only, with substantial savings in modelling effort. This two-volume book set is designed to provide the readers with acomprehensive and up-to-date account of the boundary element methodand its application to solving engineering problems. Each volume isa self-contained book including a substantial amount of materialnot previously covered by other text books on the subject. Volume 1covers applications to heat transfer, acoustics, electrochemistryand fluid mechanics problems, while volume 2 concentrates on solidsand structures, describing applications to elasticity, plasticity,elastodynamics, fracture mechanics and contact analysis. The earlychapters are designed as a teaching text for final yearundergraduate courses. Both volumes reflect the experience of theauthors over a period of more than twenty years of boundary element research. This volume, Applications in Thermo-Fluids and Acoustics, provides acomprehensive presentation of the BEM from fundamentals to advancedengineering applications and encompasses: Steady and transient heat transfer Potential and viscous fluid flows Frequency and time-domain acoustics Corrosion and other electrochemical problems. A unique feature of this book is an in-depth presentation of BEMformulations in all the above fields, including detaileddiscussions of the basic theory, numerical algorithms and practicalengineering applications of the method. Written by an internationally recognised authority in the field,this is essential reading for postgraduates, researchers andpractitioners in civil, mechanical and chemical engineering andapplied mathematics.

This book contains papers presented at the Thirty Fourth International Conference on Boundary Elements and other Mesh Reduction Methods (BEM/MRM), recognised as the international forum for the latest advances of these methods and their applications in science and engineering. The success of the meeting, since the first conference took place in Southampton, UK, in 1978, is an indication of the strength of the research being carried out by many different groups around the world. This continuous growth is a result of the evolution of the techniques from methods based on classical integral equations to techniques now covering a wide variety of mathematical approaches, the main objective of which is to reduce or eliminate the mesh. The mesh, a concept inherited from more primitive methods, such as finite differences and finite elements, is alien to the solution of the problem and dictated only by the limitations of first generation analysis techniques. Topics covered include: Advanced meshless and mesh reduction methods, Electrical engineering and electromagnetics, Fluid flow, Heat and mass transfer, Advanced structural applications, Dynamics and vibrations, Damage mechanics and fracture, Material characterisation, Advanced formulations, Computational techniques, Stochastic modelling, Emerging applications.