Boundary contour analysis for surface stress recovery in 2-D elasticity and Stokes flow

Summary A variant of the boundary element method, called the boundary contour method, offers a further reduction in dimensionality. Consequently, boundary contour analysis of 2-D problems does not require any numerical integration at all. In a boundary contour analysis, boundary stresses can be accurately computed using the approach proposed in Ref. 1]. However, due to singularity, this approach can be used only to calculate boundary stresses at points that do not lie at an end of a boundary element. Herein, it is shown that a technique based on the displacement/velocity shape functions can overcome this drawback. Further, the approach is much simpler to apply, requires less computational effort, and provides competitive accuracy. Numerical solutions and convergence study for some well-known problems in linear elasticity and Stokes flow are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach. This research was supported in part by the 2004 Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award from Oak Ridge Associated Universities and by the University of South Alabama Research Council.