A comparison of boundary element method formulations for steady state anisotropic heat conduction problems

In this paper the boundary element method (BEM) is numerically implemented in order to solve steady state anisotropic heat conduction problems. Variou s types of elements, namely, constant elements, continuous and discontinuou s linear elements and continuous and discontinuous quadratic elements are u sed. The performances of these various BEM formulations are compared for bo th the direct well-posed Dirichlet problem and the inverse ill-posed Cauchy problem, revealing several features of the BEM. Furthermore, previously un determined analytical solutions for the integrals associated with linear an d quadratic elements are presented. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All righ ts reserved.