The most widely used computational procedures in solid mechanics and many
other fields of engineering and physics are the Finite Element Method and the
Boundary Element Method. The unknown continuous solution is replaced, for instance
in statics, by algebraic equations in terms of parameters defining the approx-
approximate solution. Both methods exhibit their specific features, advantages and disadvan-
disadvantages.
As this book will appeal to the numerical analyst with experience in a specific field, a
more detailed technical description of the novel method, including the motivation to
develop it, is appropriate than is normally found in a Preface. The beginner in numerical
analysis for whom the book is equally well suited can essentially skip the following six
paragraphs. It is important to realise that the novel approach, called the Scaled Bound-
Boundary Finite Element Method, combines the advantages of the finite element and bound-
boundary element methods, which will both be explained, and also exhibits appealing features
of its own.