Solution Method for Coupled Elastostatic BEM and FEM Domains

Abstract

Elastostatic finite element (FEM) and boundary element (BEM) domains are coupled through the use of an iterative conjugate gradient domain decomposition solver. In each iteration, the domains are analyzed independently by applying trial displacements to degrees of freedom on the interface between domains. The conjugate gradient domain decomposition solver predicts a new set of trial interface displacements for the next iteration. An advantage of the domain decomposition solver is that it does not require knowledge of the influence coefficients of each of the FEM and BEM domains. Example problems and analysis results are presented.