ABSTRACT
For linear elastic problems under static or dynamic loading, the BEM has a number of distinct advantages over the FEM, as explained in Banerjee and Butterfield (1981), Banerjee et al. (1986), Banerjee and Ahmad (1985) and Ahmad (1986). Some of these advantages for linear dynamic problems are: (i) accurate and efficient solutions of problems involving semi-infinite or infinite domains, because the radiation condition at infinity is automatically satisfied by the Stokes’ fundamental solution: (ii) reduction of the dimensionality of the problem by one, resulting in a discretisation of just the surface of the domain instead of the whole domain (as required in the FEM).
