Time-stepping boundary element method applied to \(2-D\) transient heat conduction problems (Q1344669)

A new boundary element method based on time-stepping approximation of the time derivative in the governing differential equation is presented. The reduced differential equation at any time step is transformed into an equivalent boundary integral equation, and it is solved in a step-by-step manner by means of the standard boundary element method. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated by several examples of two-dimensional transient heat conduction problems in isotropic, homogeneous media. An appropriate time step for a given boundary element mesh is determined using charts of relationship between the diffusion number and the boundary element mesh.