The Green Element Method

The Green element method (GEM) is a novel approach of implementing in an element-by-element fashion the singular boundary integral theory, thereby enhancing the capabilities of the theory in terms of ease in solving nonlinear problems, adapting to heterogeneous problems, and achieving spareness in the global coefficient matrix. By proceeding in this manner, GEM provides solutions to linear, nonlinear, steady and transient engineering problems in one- and two-dimensional domains, some of which hitherto could not be handled by the boundary integral theory. The primary motivation for the Green element method, therefore, lies in the enhancement of the computational capabilities that it has given to the boundary element theory. The main objectives of this text are to serve as an instructional material to senior undergraduate and first-year graduate students undertaking a course in computational methods and their applications to engineering problems, and as a resource material for research scientists, applied mathematicians, numerical analysts, and engineers who may wish to take these ideas to new frontiers and applications. To enhance the feel for the method, exercises are presented at the end of some of the chapters, and sample data can be run with the executable program GEMLN1D that can be accessed online.