A new time-domain boundary element formulation for generalized models of viscoelasticity

The contribution is concerned with the novel algorithmic formulation for generalized models of viscoelasticity under quasi-static conditions within the framework of the boundary element method (BEM). The proposed update algorithm is constructed for a generic rheological model of linear viscoelasticity that can either be straightforwardly simplified to recover the basic Kelvin and Maxwell models or readily furthered towards the generalized models of viscoelasticity through the serial or parallel extensions. In contrast to the scarce existing rate formulations of inelasticity developed within BEM, the put forward non-iterative formulation exploits the hybrid semi-implicit update of strain-like kinematic history variables. The challenge arising from the indispensable domain integrals is overcome through the mesh-free Cartesian transformation method (CTM), complemented by the radial point integration (RPIM) technique. The excellent performance of the proposed approach is demonstrated in comparison with the corresponding analytical and finite element results for boundary-value problems with uniform and non-uniform strain fields under different representative modes and types of loading.