A numerical implementation using mid-node collocation for the hypersingular boundary contour method

A variant of the boundary element method, called the boundary contour method (BCM), offers a further reduction in dimensionality. Consequently, boundary contour analysis of two-dimensional problems does not require any numerical integration at all. In another development, a boundary contour implementation of a regularized hypersingular boundary integral equation (HBIE) using quadratic elements and end-node collocation was proposed and the technique is termed the hypersingular boundary contour method (HBCM). As reported in that work, the approach requires highly refined meshes in order to numerically enforce the stress continuity across boundary contour elements. This continuity requirement is very crucial since the regularized HBIE is only valid at collocation points where the stress tensor is continuous, while the computed stress at the endpoints of a boundary contour element, which is a non-conforming element, is generally not. This paper presents a new implementation of the HBCM for which the regularized HBIE is collocated at the mid-node of a boundary contour element. As the computed stress tensor is continuous at these mid-nodes, there is no need for unusually refined meshes. Some numerical tests herein show that, for the same mesh density, the HBCM using mid-node collocation has a comparable accuracy as the BCM.