Wall structure finite-element by BEM coupling

The calculation of structures made of the assembly of several walls requires finite element modeling, henceforth, it gives rise to a large number of degrees of freedom. The actual work shows that the number of parameters is reduced by using boundary elements to derive the stiffness matrix of the element. The proposed technique gives origin to a positive definite and symmetrical matrix due to the use of constant boundary elements. Moreover, the resulting matrix can be assembled together with finite element ones in order to obtain the description of complex three-dimensional structures. Sub-structuring and multi-region modeling are possible and continuity relaxation between elements as well as interface and nonlinear constitutive laws can be comprised. Some examples are reported in order to verify the accuracy and feasibility of the procedure for the elastic case