Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 10.19
Finite element mesh
10.6
CONCLUSIONS
The purpose of this chapter was to show on a number of simple examples, how the
method works and the sort of accuracy that can be expected. We have seen that some
examples favour the BEM, while others do not. On the cantilever example it has been
shown that care has to be taken to avoid situations where two boundary elements are too
close to each other. The method based on point collocation implemented in this topic
shows that significant errors can be observed if surfaces are too close to each other and
the mesh is coarse. On the other hand we have shown that for problems involving
infinite domains, as they occur, for example in geotechnical engineering, accuracy,
efficiency and user friendliness is superior to the FEM.
After reading this chapter the reader should have learned how to generate boundary
element meshes and input files for Programs 7.1 Generel_purpose_BEM and 9.1
Post_processor. A good appreciation of the method, the accuracy that can be obtained
and the pitfalls that should be avoided should also have been gained. The reader may
now proceed to learn more about more advanced topics.
Search WWH ::
Custom Search