TREFFTZ BOUNDARY-ELEMENT METHOD FOR DOMAINS WITH SLITS

This paper is concerned with the implementation of the Trefftz boundar y element method, for the analysis of two-dimensional potential proble ms in domains with thin internal or edge cavities. Each cavity is trea ted as an infinitely thin slit defined in a single region, for which a particular solution of the problem is known. This solution procedure which does not generate new unknowns in the problem, satisfies exactly the specified boundary conditions along the slit boundaries. Furtherm ore, the strength of the singularity, defined at the tip of each slit, is directly computed by the solver. Several examples are analysed wit h this procedure for both the collocation and Galerkin techniques of t he Trefftz boundary element method. The accuracy and efficiency of the implementations described herein make the Trefftz boundary element me thod ideal for the study of potential problems with degenerated geomet ries. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.