New Developments of the Boundary Element Method with Internal Cells

The Boundary Element Method (BEM) is very rarely used for the simulation of problems in geomechanics even though it can mean a considerable improvement in user-friendliness, efficiency and accuracy compared to currently used domain based methods because only surfaces have to be discretized. The main reason why the BEM is not applied is because currently there are missing efficient and user-friendly capabilities to deal with non-linear material behavior, heterogeneous ground conditions, various types of ground support and sequential excavation. The paper will describe some innovative developments which include the efficient implementation of non-linear material behavior with an adaptive cell generation/refinement algorithm, the treatment of heterogeneous ground conditions and pipe roofs using an iterative procedure and cells, the treatment of rock bolts as linear inclusions via one-dimensional cells. Finally, verification results are presented, which demonstrate the accuracy and userfriendliness of the innovative methods.