  Isogeometric approach applied to Boundary Element Methods is an emerging
research area. In this context, the aim of the present contribution is that of
investigating, from a numerical point of view, the Symmetric Galerkin Boundary
Element Method (SGBEM) devoted to the solution of 2D boundary value problems
for the Laplace equation, where the boundary and the unknowns on it are both
represented by B-splines. We mainly compare this approach, which we call
IGA-SGBEM, with a curvilinear SGBEM, which operates on any boundary given by
explicit parametric representation and where the approximate solution is
obtained using Lagrangian basis. Both techniques are further compared with a
standard (conventional) SGBEM approach, where the boundary of the assigned
problem is approximated by linear elements and the numerical solution is
expressed in terms of Lagrangian basis. Several examples will be presented and
discussed, underlying benefits and drawbacks of all the above-mentioned
approaches.
