Combined use of SGBEM and FEM for solid mechanics applications

Fracture mechanics problems can be tackled by a hybrid boundary element - finite element approach proposed in [1] and [4], which tries to combine the advantages of both component methods. The integral representation of the effects induced in unbounded elastic space by cracks (conceived as displacement discontinuities across surfaces) is advantageously exploited in the superposition scheme at the base of such an approach. An effective way to enforce the traction integral equation on a crack surface is to adopt its weak form as typical of the Symmetric Galerkin approach (SGBEM), see for instance [2]. The numerical procedure proposed in [1] on the basis of a collocation version of the traction equation is revisited in the present paper using such equation in a Galerkin fashion. A contribution linked to what proposed in this work, but based on an iterative alternating procedure is reported in [3].