Three‐dimensional singularities of elastic fields near vertices

For the computation of the singular behavior of an elastic field near a three‐dimensional vertex subject to displacement boundary conditions we use a boundary integral equation of the first kind whose unknown is the boundary stress. Localization at the vertex and Mellin transformation yield a one‐dimensional integral equation on a piecewise circular curve γ in IR 3 depending holomorphically on the complex Mellin parameter. The corresponding spectral points and packets of generalized eigenvectors characterize the desired stress field and are computed by a spline‐Galerkin method with graded meshes at the corner points of the curve γ. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.