Book excerpt: The boundary element method is an extremely versatile and powerful tool of computational mechanics which has already become a popular alternative to the well established finite element method. This book presents a comprehensive and up-to-date treatise on the boundary element method (BEM) in its applications to various fields of continuum mechanics such as: elastostatics, elastodynamics, thermoelasticity, micropolar elasticity, elastoplasticity, viscoelasticity, theory of plates and stress analysis by hybrid methods. The fundamental solution of governing differential equations, integral representations of the displacement and temperature fields, regularized integral representations of the stress field and heat flux, boundary integral equations and boundary integro-differential equations are derived. Besides the mathematical foundations of the boundary integral method, the book deals with practical applications of this method. Most of the applications concentrate mainly on the computational problems of fracture mechanics. The method has been found to be very efficient in stress-intensity factor computations. Also included are developments made by the authors in the boundary integral formulation of thermoelasticity, micropolar elasticity, viscoelasticity, plate theory, hybrid method in elasticity and solution of crack problems. The solution of boundary-value problems of thermoelasticity and micropolar thermoelasticity is formulated for the first time as the solution of pure boundary problems. A new unified formulation of general crack problems is presented by integro-differential equations.