Stochastic boundary element method in elasticity

The stochastic boundary element method is developed to analyze elasticity problems with random material and/or geometrical parameters and randomly perturbed boundaries. Based on the first-order Taylor series expansion, the boundary integration equations concerning the mean and deviation of the displacements are derived, respectively. It is found that the randomness of material parameters is equivalent to a random body force, so the mean and covariance matrices of unknown boundary displacements and tractions can be obtained. Furthermore, the mean and covariance of displacements and stresses at inner points can also be obtained. Numerical examples show that the proposed stochastic boundary element method gives satisfactory solutions, as compared with those obtained by theoretical analysis or other numerical methods. The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the State Education Commission Foundation of China