An analytical contour integration method for handling body forces in elasticity (Q2266619)

In the boundary element and superposition methods for two-dimensional elasticity problems, the presence of body forces requires the integration of the basic point load solution against the body force field over a specified area. For polynomial body forces, \(x^ my^ n\), these area integrals may be transformed into contour integrals which have closed form analytic representations when the area is a polygon. This paper shows that commonly used numerical integration techniques developed for area integrals are unsuitable for handling body forces using the above named methods. Not only are these techniques inaccurate but expensive in terms of execution time in comparison to the analytical algorithm developed here. A computer program and four example problems are included.