An energy approach to space-time Galerkin BEM for wave propagation problems

In this paper we consider Dirichlet or Neumann wave propagation problems reformulated in terms of boundary integral equations with retarded potential. Starting from a natural energy identity, a space–time weak formulation for 1D integral problems is briefly introduced, and continuity and coerciveness properties of the related bilinear form are proved. Then, a theoretical analysis of an extension of the introduced formulation for 2D problems is proposed, pointing out the novelty with respect to existing literature results. At last, various numerical simulations will be presented and discussed, showing unconditional stability of the space–time Galerkin boundary element method applied to the energetic weak problem. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.