Authors
Abstract
Stress analysis problems in geomechanics are ideally suited to the method of boundary
elements, as this technique usually requires a very small number of nodes by
comparison to finite elements. As only the surface of the continuum needs to be
discretized, problems extending to infinity can be described by a very small number
of elements on the soil surface or around a tunnel or excavation . In addition, the
boundary conditions of the infinite domain can be properly defined using boundary
elements, as the technique is based on fundamental solutions valid for unbounded
domains.
Herein, a comparison is made between the finite element method and the boundary
element method in solving two-dimensional stress analysis problems. It is concluded
that the results of the boundary element method are greatly improved when
increasing the number of elements, especially at the regions of stress concentration. A
good agreement can be obtained between the results of the two methods. One must
keep in mind that in the boundary element method, errors due to discretization are
restricted to the boundaries compared to the finite element method where the entire
domain needs to be discretized. This advantage makes the use of the boundary
element method easier and faster.
Keywords
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