| Abstract: | This paper deals with the basic approximation properties of the h–p version of the boundary element method (BEM) in ℝ3. We extend the results on the exponential convergence of the h–p version of the boundary element method on geometric meshes from problems in polygonal domains to problems in polyhedral domains. In 2D elliptic boundary value problems the solutions have only corner singularities whereas in 3D problems they contain additional edge and corner-edge singularities. The solutions of the corresponding boundary integral equations inherit those singularities. The detailed investigations in our analysis take care of the various types of those singularities. While edge singularities can be analysed using standard one-dimensional approximation results the corner-edge singularities demand a new analysis. © 1997 by B. G. Teubner Stuttgart–John Wiley & Sons Ltd. |
