A finite element-boundary element method for advection-diffusion problems with variable advective fields and infinite domains

In this paper a hybrid, finite element-boundary element method which can be used to solve for particle advection-diffusion in infinite domains with variable advective fields is presented. In previous work either boundary element, finite element, or difference methods were used to solve for particle motion in advective-diffusive domains. These methods have a number of limitations. Due to the complexity of computing spatially dependent Green's functions, the boundary element method is limited to domains containing only constant advective fields, and due to their inherent formulations, finite element and finite difference methods are limited to only domains of finite spatial extent. Thus, finite element and finite difference methods are limited to finite space problems for which the boundary element method is not, and the boundary element method is limited to constant advection field problems for which finite element and finite difference methods are not. In this paper it is proposed to split the total domain into two sub-domains, and for each of these sub-domains, apply the appropriate solution method; thereby, producing a method for the total infinite space, variable advective field domain. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.