Advanced elastic and inelastic three‐dimensional analysis of gas turbine engine structures by BEM

The boundary element method (BEM) has been known for some time to be extremely useful for the solution of elastic stress analysis problems involving high stress/strain gradients. In particular, the method has been extensively used for the study of both two and three-dimensional fracture mechanics problems. Recent analytical and numerical developments coupled with the general availability of greatly increased computing capacity have made both elastic and inelastic three-dimensional stress analysis feasible for complex geometries such as those found in gas turbine engine components. This paper summarizes the features of an advanced stress analysis method based on BEM for elastic and inelastic analyses of multizone or substructured three-dimensional solids. The elastic analyses involve isotropic or cross anisotropic media with thermal and centrifugal loading. The inelastic analyses include isotropic plasticity with variable hardening and kinematic plasticity with multiple yield surfaces.