Maier, G.; Novati, G.; Cen, Z. Symmetric Galerkin boundary element method for quasi-brittle-fracture and frictional contact problems. (English) Zbl 0786.73080 Comput. Mech. 13, No. 1-2, 74-89 (1993). Summary: The analysis of elastic quasi-brittle structures containing cohesive cracks and contacts with friction is given a unitary formulation in the framework of incremental plasticity. Integral equations for displacement and tractions are enforced by a weighted-residual Galerkin approach so that symmetry is preserved in the key operators (in contrast to collocation BE approaches), and cracks (either internal or edge cracks) can be dealt with by a single-domain BE formulation. The space-discrete problem in rates is expressed as a linear complementarity problem centered on a symmetric matrix or, equivalently, as a quadratic programming problem in variables pertaining to the displacement discontinuity locus only. Criteria for overall instabilities and bifurcations are derived from this formulation. The BE approach proposed and implemented by a suitable time-stepping technique, is comparatively tested by numerical solutions of cohesive-crack propagation problems. Cited in 18 Documents MSC: 74S15 Boundary element methods applied to problems in solid mechanics 74R99 Fracture and damage 74A55 Theories of friction (tribology) 74M15 Contact in solid mechanics Keywords:incremental plasticity; integral equation; weighted-residual Galerkin approach; symmetry; single-domain BE formulation; linear complementarity problem; quadratic programming; instabilities; bifurcations; time- stepping technique Software:CONTACT PDFBibTeX XMLCite \textit{G. Maier} et al., Comput. Mech. 13, No. 1--2, 74--89 (1993; Zbl 0786.73080)