Degenerate scale for the analysis of circular thin plate using the boundary integral equation method and boundary element methods

In this paper, the degenerate scale for plate problem is studied. For the continuous model, we use the null-field integral equation, Fourier series and the series expansion in terms of degenerate kernel for fundamental solutions to examine the solvability of BIEM for circular thin plates. Any two of the four boundary integral equations in the plate formulation may be chosen. For the discrete model, the circulant is employed to determine the rank deficiency of the influence matrix. Both approaches, continuous and discrete models, lead to the same result of degenerate scale. We study the nonunique solution analytically for the circular plate and find degenerate scales. The similar properties of solvability condition between the membrane (Laplace) and plate (biharmonic) problems are also examined. The number of degenerate scales for the six boundary integral formulations is also determined.