New special wave boundary elements for short wave problems

Abstract

Abstract The theory of special boundary elements which incorporate wave shapes into the element shape functions is described. The new boundary elements are applied to the classical problem of plane waves scattered by a circular cylinder. The new boundary elements demonstrate reduced errors, for a given number of degrees of freedom, of three to five orders of magnitude. No difficulties were encountered in the implementation of the new elements. It is concluded that this is a powerful new method for scattering of short waves. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.