The Boundary Element Method (BEM) has developed considerably since 1978 when the first International Conference on the topic was held, and the first book published. The intervening years have seen it evolve to aid the solution of an increasingly large number of problems, progress helped by the simultaneous development of evermore powerful computers. Now the best tool for the solution of some of the most difficult engineering problems, the BEM has numerous and diverse applications.

Covering state-of-the-art developments in this exciting field of engineering analysis, this book contains a selection of papers presented at the 21st International Conference on the Boundary Element Method held in August 1999. Reflecting current areas of active research, it includes coverage of computational techniques designed to improve the performance of the method and to produce meshless solutions. Other fields discussed are those in which the BEM offers powerful advantages, such as fracture and contact mechanics and all types of interface problems, and fluid mechanics where greater accuracy is fundamentally important in order to avoid losses of mass or energy.

The 70 papers featured have been contributed by researchers from many countries and are divided under the following headings: Fracture Mechanics and Fatigue; Inelastic Problems; Thermal Problems; Electromagnetics; Numerical Computational Techniques; Inverse Problems; Fluid Dynamics; Acoustics; Dual Reciprocity Method; Soil and Soil Structure Problems; Fluid Flow; Mathematical Aspects and Advanced Formulations; Shape Sensitivity and Optimization.