Boundary integral formulation of plate bending problems (Q1057701)

The present study concerns an attempt at transformation of the domain integral into the corresponding boundary integral. The method relies on the well-known integral theorems due to Gauss or Green and is mathematically rigorous. Distributed lateral loads expressed in terms of a power series of the coordinates including constant, linear and quadratic variations are illustrated. Since higher order variations can be treated similarly, problems with arbitrary load distribution are formulated as the perfect ''boundary'' integral equation. Consequently, discretization and numerical calculation over the domain are wiped out thoroughly and utility of the boundary element method for the plate bending analysis is emphasized in the extreme.