On the description of localization and failure phenomena by the boundary element method

The application of the boundary element formulation for non-linear structural problems involving localization and failure phenomena is discussed in this paper. In order to overcome the well-known mesh dependency observed for local continua, a non-local damage model is used. An implicit boundary element formulation is proposed and the underlying consistent tangent operator defined. The formulation is based on the classical displacement and strain integral representations and allows the description of snap-back phenomena. Numerical examples are provided to illustrate its capabilities.