When the time-dependent boundary element method, also termed the pseudo-initial condition method, is employed for solving transient heat conduction problems, the numerical evaluation of domain integrals is necessitated. Consequently, the accurate calculation of the domain integrals is of crucial importance for analyzing transient heat conduction. However, as the time step decreases progressively and approaches zero, the integrand of the domain integrals is close to singular, resulting in large errors when employing standard Gaussian quadrature directly. To solve the problem and further improve the calculation accuracy of the domain integrals, an (α, β) distance transformation is presented. Distance transformation is a simple and efficient method for eliminating near-singularity, typically applied to nearly singular integrals. Firstly, the (α, β) coordinate transformation is introduced. Then, a new distance transformation for the domain integrals is constructed by replacing the shortest distance with the time step. With the new method, the integrand of the domain integrals is substantially smoothed, and the singularity arising from small time steps in the domain integrals is effectively eliminated. Thus, more accurate results can be obtained by the (α, β) distance transformation. Different sizes of time steps, positions of source point, and shapes of integration elements are considered in numerical examples. Comparative studies of the numerical results for the domain integrals using various methods demonstrate that higher accuracy and efficiency are achieved by the proposed method.

Purpose: In traditional methods, a one-directional distance transformation is employed to eliminate the near-singularity in the radial direction. However, when the projection point of the source point is near the boundary of the integral element, the near-singularity in the circumferential direction still exists, resulting in large errors in the numerical results. The purpose of this paper is to propose a bi-directional distance transformation for the elimination of near-singularities in two directions arising from the irregular integral element.Design/methodology/approach: The sources of the circumferential near-singularity caused by irregular sub-triangular element are analyzed in this paper. A bi-directional distance transformation based on the (a, β) transformation is proposed to eliminate the near-singularities in the two directions. The (a, β) transformation is initially introduced to separate the integral variables and streamline the implementation of subsequent transformations. In the transformed (a, β) coordinate system, a new distance transformation applied in the circumferential direction is constructed.Findings: With the proposed method, the radial and circumferential near-singularities are eliminated using two different distance transformations, respectively. Thus, accurate calculations of the nearly singular integrals can be achieved, irrespective of the shape of the integral element.Originality/value: Numerical examples are presented to calculate the nearly singular integrals of different orders over both the linear integral element and the quadratic integral element. Comparative studies demonstrate that the proposed method significantly improves the accuracy of these calculations.