A coupled element free Galerkin/boundary element method for stress analysis of two-dimensional solids

Element free Galerkin (EFG) method is a newly developed meshless method for solving partial differential equations using Moving Least-Squares interpol ants. It is, however, computationally expensive for many problems. A couple d EFG/boundary element (BE) method is proposed in this paper to improve the solution efficiency. A procedure is developed for the coupled EFG/BE metho d so that the continuity and compatibility are preserved on the interface o f the two domains, where the EFG and BE methods are applied. The present co upled EFG/BE method has been coded in FORTRAN. The validity and efficiency of the EFG/BE method are demonstrated through a number of examples. It is f ound that the present method can take the full advantages of both EFG and B E methods. It is very easy to implement, and very flexible for computing di splacements and stresses of desired accuracy in solids with or without infi nite domains. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.