Sparse Preconditioned Iterative Methods for Dense Linear Systems

The superconvergence of a Galerkin collocation method for first kind boundary integral equations on smooth curves

A fast multigrid solution of boundary integral equations

A quantative comparison between the boundary integral equation (BIE) method and the finite difference (FD) method is presented in which each technique is applied to an elliptic boundary‐value problem (BVP) containing a boundary singularity. Two types of singularity have previously been analysed theoretically, namely those due to a discontinuous boundary potential, which we shall refer to as S1, and those due to a sudden change from the specification of boundary potential flux, an S2 singularity. In this paper the analysis is presented for a third type of boundary singularity, namely an S3 singularity: that arising from a discontinuous boundary flux. Such a condition is frequently encountered in the field of heat transfer where, for example, a system or pipe has a change of lagging material.In general, it is found that the BIE method is superior, with regards to the computational time required to achieve a certain degree of accuracy, over standard FD methods even when there is a boundary singularity. Further, the BIE method determines the solution near the singularity much more accurately than the FD method. The FD method does, however, have advantages for a very restrictive class of problems; for example, when the boundary conditions are of the Dirichlet type and the boundary geometry is rectangular. In this case an optimum relaxation parameter can easily be obtained. A soon as Neumann conditions are prescribed, the BIE is far more efficient than the FD, whatever the boundary geometry.It is concluded that, for fast, accurate solutions of general Laplacian boundary‐value problems, the BIE is appreciably superior to the FD and this is even more pronounced when there is a boundary singularity.

One popular approach to solve the sea surface scattering and propagation in a ducting environment is the parabolic wave equation (PWE) method. An alternative method is the boundary integral equations (BIE) method. The implementation of the BIE in inhomogeneous media (ducting environments) is not straightforward, however, since the Green's function for such a medium is not usually known. In this paper, a closed-form approximation of the Green's function for a two-dimensional (2-D) ducting environment made up of a duct having a linear-square refractive index profile below a medium of constant refractive index, recently published, is used. This paper demonstrates how the BIE method can model the combined effects of surface roughness and medium inhomogeneity. Furthermore, it illustrates its capability of accurately predicting scattering in all directions including backscattering. Then, the PWE combined with the Split-Step Fourier (SSF) method is compared with this method.

The conditioning of some numerical methods for first kind boundary integral equations

We give a convergence and error analysis for a Nystrom method on a graded mesh for the numerical solution of boundary integral equations for the harmonic Dirichlet problem in plane domains with corners.

A domain decomposition method (DDM) for the solution of boundary integral equations for impenetrable objects is presented. The approach uses a transmission condition which is based on the near-range couplings. In order to obtain close approximations of the global solution on the subdomains, the comparatively strong near-zone interactions are taken into account to avoid unphysical reflections from the domain interfaces. The algorithm can be accelerated by fast integral solvers such as the multilevel fast multipole method (MLFMM) by creating local subtrees, which coincide with the different computing domains. This concept is embedded in an inner-outer iterative solution algorithm in which the DDM acts as a preconditioner in the inner iterations. By introducing small overlap regions, the convergence of the iterative solver is further improved. This results in a very robust DDM which can be integrated into existing codes with reasonable effort and which is suited for parallelization. Numerical results for various open and closed objects demonstrate the effectiveness and the excellent performance of the proposed DDM for the solution of electromagnetic radiation and scattering problems.

The principles and development of the boundary integral equation (BIE) method for solving engineering problems are reviewed, with particular emphasis on applications in three-dimensional stress analysis. Its use in problems of this type is illustrated with the aid of three examples, one a classical stress concentration problem, the other two involving cracked components. Compared with a finite-element method, the BIE approach is shown to be capable of being both more accurate and more economical to use in terms of competing resources required and the cost of data preparation. These advantages may, however, be less clear-cut when predictions of stresses and displacements at a large number of points within a component are required, or when the component concerned has a relatively high surface-to-volume ratio.

Acoustic wave scattering by scatterers in layered media is studied using a new method that combines the hybrid ray–mode and boundary integral equation methods. The latter is used to formulate the scattering process and the former is used to provide the Green’s function of the layered environment. Following standard procedures of the boundary integral equation method, integral equations are formulated first for field distributions along the boundaries of the obstacles. By expressing these unknown distributions in terms of appropriate basis functions, the integral equations are then reduced to algebraic equations that are solved numerically. In the integral equations, it is necessary to compute the Green’s function of the layered environment for various arrangements of locations of source and receiver. None of these conventional approaches (rays, modes, and spectral integration) to evaluate the Green’s function are satisfactory for all possible arrangements. Only the newly developed hybrid ray–mode method is best suited for this purpose because it combines rays and modes self-consistently within a single framework and optimizes the advantages of each. Numerical implementation illustrates these aspects.

We consider the Dirichlet problem for Laplace's equation on planar domains with corners.A Nyström method is used to solve the corresponding double layer boundary integral equation.The Nyström method is based on the trapezoidal rule with a graded mesh method as in [13], but we adopt a generalized mesh grading.An improved convergence is observed.

Analyzing the 2D fracture problems via the enriched boundary element-free method

The direct problem of antiplane oscillations of a layer with delamination in the context of the gradient theory of elasticity is considered. The gradient model proposed by Aifantis is taken as a mathematical model. The main attention has been paid to the analysis of mechanical fields at the crack bank and at its tips - stress concentrators. The study is carried out using the method of boundary integral equations (BIE). The BIE for the gradient of displacement field on the crack is constructed. The analysis of the constructed BIE is carried out and the cubic singularity is explicitly revealed. The solution of singular BIE is constructed using approximating Chebyshev polynomials. A study for cracks of small relative length - asymptotic approach is carried out, simple semi-analytical expressions for constructing the crack swap function are obtained, the range of efficiency of the asymptotic approach is obtained. The stress fields in the area of the crack tips are constructed. Numerical results of computational experiments are presented.

Eddy current nondestructive evaluation (NDE) of airframe structures involves the detection of electromagnetic field irregularities due to non-conducting inhomogeneities in an electrically conducting material. Usually, the eddy current NDE problem can be formulated by the boundary integral equations (BIE) and discretized into matrix equations by the method of moments (MoM) or the boundary element method (BEM). The fast multipole method (FMM) is a well-established and effective method for accelerating numerical solutions of the matrix equations. Accelerated by the FMM, the BIE method can now solve large-scale electromagnetic wave propagation and diffusion problems. The traditional BIE method requires O(N) operations to compute the system of equations and another O(N) operations to solve the system using direct solvers, with N being the number of unknowns; in contrast, the BIE method accelerated by the two-level FMM can potentially reduce the operations and memory requirement to O(N). Moreover, several approaches have been proposed for the field calculation in the presence of flaws in three dimensional NDE; however, seldom work has been done in applying efficient methods to seek rapid solution in eddy current NDE simulation. As elaborated in the dissertation, we introduce a fast multipole BIE method for two-dimensional diffusive scalar problem and an efficient BIE method for three-dimensional eddy current NDE. Firstly, we work with the two-dimensional Helmholtz equation with a complex wave number for non-trivial boundary geometry. We describe the FMM acceleration procedure of the BIE method and its features briefly, explaining that the FMM is not only efficient in meshing complicated geometries, accurate for solving singular fields or

Application of the boundary integral equation (BIE) method to transient response analysis of inclusions in a half space

Boundary integral equation (boundary element) methods have the advantage over other commonly used numerical methods that they do not require values of the unknowns at points within the solution domain to be computed. Further benefits would be obtained if attention could be confined to information at one small part of the boundary, the particular region of interest in a given problem. A local boundary integral equation method based on a Taylor series expansion of the unknown function is developed to do this for two-dimensional potential problems governed by Laplace's equation. Very accurate local values of the function and its derivatives can be obtained. The method should find particular application in the efficient refinement of approximate solutions obtained by other numerical techniques.