A two-dimensional BEM/FEM coupling applied to viscoelastic analysis of composite domains

A coupling between the boundary-element and nite-element methods is studied for the viscoelastic analysis of reinforced media. The viscous behaviour of the composed body is taken into account by an alternative BEM methodology developed for the Boltzmann model. This methodology is based on di erential constitutive relations for viscoelasticity. The reinforcements are modelled by nite elements and are considered elastic. The coupling is based on the sub-region technique due to its generality and easy implementation. The resulting time-marching process is able to represent both the instantaneous and the time-dependent behaviour of a body subjected to general boundary conditions. The method is validated by an experimental result and its accuracy tested by comparing numerical results with analytical solutions. The generality of the method is proved by an in nite domain application