Infinite boundary element absorbing boundary for wave propagation simulations

In the boundary element (BE) solution of wave propagation, infinite absorbing elements are introduced to minimize diffractions from truncated edges of models. This leads to a significant simplification and reduction of computational effort, especially for 3-D problems. The infinite BE absorbing boundary condition has a general form for both 2-D and 3-D problems and for both acoustic and elastic cases. Its implementation is facilitated by the introduction of the corresponding shape functions. Numerical experiments illustrate a nearly perfect absorption of unwanted diffractions. The approach overcomes some of the difficulties encountered in conventional absorbing techniques and takes less memory space and less computing time.