Conventionally, piecewise polynomials have been used in the boundary element method (BEM) to
approximate unknown boundary values. However, since ifinitely
smooth radial basis functions
(RBFs) are more stable and accurate than the polynomials for high dimensional domains, this
paper proposes approximating the unknown values using RBFs. This new formulation is called
the radial BEM. To calculate the singular boundary integrals in the radial BEM, the authors
propose a new distribution of boundary source points that removes the singularity from the
integrals. This allows the boundary integrals to be precisely calculated using the standard Gaussian
quadrature rule with 16 quadrature nodes. Several numerical examples are presented to evaluate
the efficiency of the radial BEM compared to standard BEM and RBF collocation method for solving
partial differential equations (PDEs). The analytical and numerical studies demonstrate that the
radial BEM is a superior version of BEM that will significantly enhance the application of BEM
and RBFs in solving PDEs.