1620240908_ftp.pdf

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL METHODS IN ENGINEERING, VOL. 24, 1711 ~ 1720 (1987) DIRECT COMPUTATION OF CAUCHY PRINCIPAL VALUE INTEGRALS IN ADVANCED BOUNDARY ELEMENTS MASSlMO GUIGGIANI AND PAOLO CASALINI Dipartmento di Cortruzzoni ikleccaniche c Nucleari UnrLervto’ di PPU oia Diotlsalr 1 2, 56100 Pira PI,1 t d j SUMMARY This paper presents a new method for the direct computation of strongly singular integrals existing in the Cauchy principal value sense. It can be usefully applicd i n thc solution by the direct boundary element method of many different problems. Initialiy, some considerations are provided in order to summarize the state-of- the-art on this issue. Then the features of the proposed method arc rcported. The procedure allows the direct cdculation of Cauchy principal value integrals with first-order singularity and it is applicable even in advanced boundary element methods employing high-order dements. It requires only the use of standard Gaussian quadrature formulae plus thc computation of a logarithmic term. Some examples show the effectiveness and efficiency of thc procedure. INTRODUCTION As has been pointed out since the pioneering works ofRirzo’ and Cruse,’ one of the main problems that arises in the stress analysis of elastic solids by the boundary element method (BEM) is the computation of strongly singular integrals that exist only in the sense of the Cauchy principal value. In what followc,we will deal with elasticity, but the evaluation of principal value (P.v.) integrals is now recognized as one of the typical aspects of the direct version of the BEM, regardless of the specific topic under consideration. In the boundary element method for two- or three-dimensional