An improved boundary element Galerkin method for three-dimensional crack problems

In this paper we analyze the solution of crack problems in three-dimensional linear elasticity by equivalent integral equations of the first kind on the crack surface. Besides existence and uniqueness we give sharp regularity results for the solution of these pseudodifferential equations. Two versions of Eskin's Wiener-Hopf technique are presented: the first one requires the factorization of matrix-valued symbols which is avoided in the second case. Based on these regularity results we show how to improve the boundary element Galerkin method for our integral equations by using special singular trial functions. We apply the approximation property and inverse assumption of these elements together with duality arguments and derive quasi-optimal asymptotic error estimates in a scale of Sobolev spaces.Dedicated to Prof. Dr.-Ing. W. L. Wendland on the occasion of his 50th birthday.A part of this work was done while the first author was a guest at the Georgia Institute of Technology and while the second author was partially supported by the NSF grant DMS-8501797.