Symmetric boundary knot method

The boundary knot method (BKM) is a recent boundary-type radial basis function (RBF) collocation scheme for general partial differential equations. Like the method of fundamental solution (MFS), the RBF is employed to approximate the inhomogeneous terms via the dual reciprocity principle. Unlike the MFS, the method uses a non-singular general solution instead of a singular fundamental solution to evaluate the homogeneous solution so as to circumvent the controversial artificial boundary outside the physical domain. The BKM is meshfree, super-convergent, integration-free, very easy to learn and program. The original BKM, however, loses symmetricity in the presence of mixed boundary. In this study, by analogy with Fasshauer's Hermite RBF interpolation, we developed a symmetric BKM scheme. The accuracy and efficiency of the symmetric BKM are also numerically validated in some 2D and 3D Helmholtz and diffusion-reaction problems under complicated geometries. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.