FINITE ELEMENT METHOD ON NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF STRATUM CORNEUM＇S PENETRATION PROPERTY

How the outer substance could penetrate through the skin lies in the stratum corneum, because it is the main barrier in the multi-layers of the skin. Supposing the keratin cell with a special geometry as tetrakaidecahedron, the penetration property of stratum corneum was the key problem which was numerically simulated with finite element method. At first the discretization of the stratum corneum region was given in two steps： first, the discretization of the keratin cell; second, the discretization of fattiness that surrounds the keratin. Then there was the work of numerical simulation. In this procedure, the finite element method and the multi-grid method were used. The former was to obtain the discretization of basic elements; the latter was to decrease the high frequency error. At last the visualization of the numerical simulation was shown.     

Biothermomechanics of skin tissues

Biothermomechanics of skin is highly interdisciplinary involving bioheat transfer, burn damage, biomechanics and neurophysiology. During heating, thermally induced mechanical stress arises due to the thermal denaturation of collagen, resulting in macroscale shrinkage. Thus, the strain, stress, temperature and thermal pain/damage are highly correlated; in other words, the problem is fully coupled. The aim of this study is to develop a computational approach to examine the heat transfer process and the heat-induced mechanical response, so that the differences among the clinically applied heating modalities can be quantified. Exact solutions for temperature, thermal damage and thermal stress for a single-layer skin model were first derived for different boundary conditions. For multilayer models, numerical simulations using the finite difference method (FDM) and finite element method (FEM) were used to analyze the temperature, burn damage and thermal stress distributions in the skin tissue. The results showed that the thermomechanical behavior of skin tissue is very complex: blood perfusion has little effect on thermal damage but large influence on skin temperature distribution, which, in turn, influences significantly the resulting thermal stress field; the stratum corneum layer, although very thin, has a large effect on the thermomechanical behavior of skin, suggesting that it should be properly accounted for in the modeling of skin thermal stresses; the stress caused by non-uniform temperature distribution in the skin may also contribute to the thermal pain sensation.     

Multiphase flow in heterogeneous porous media: A classical finite element method versus an implicit pressure–explicit saturation‐based mixed finite element–finite volume approach

Various discretization methods exist for the numerical simulation of multiphase flow in porous media. In this paper, two methods are introduced and analyzed—a full‐upwind Galerkin method which belongs to the classical finite element methods, and a mixed‐hybrid finite element method based on an implicit pressure–explicit saturation (IMPES) approach. Both methods are derived from the governing equations of two‐phase flow. Their discretization concepts are compared in detail. Their efficiency is discussed using several examples. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

SOLUTION OF THE ADVECTION–DIFFUSION EQUATION USING A COMBINATION OF DISCONTINUOUS AND MIXED FINITE ELEMENTS

When transport is advection-dominated, classical numerical methods introduce excessive artificial diffusion and spurious oscillations. Special methods are required to overcome these phenomena. To solve the advection‒diffusion equation, a numerical method is developed using a discontinuous finite element method for the discretization of the advective terms. At the discontinuities of the approximate solution, numerical advective fluxes are calculated using one-dimensional approximate Riemann solvers. The method is stabilized with a multidimensional slope limiter which introduces small amounts of numerical diffusion when sharp concentration fronts occur. In addition, the diffusive term is discretized using a mixed hybrid finite element method. With this approach, numerical oscillations are completely avoided for a full range of cell Peclet numbers. The combination of discontinuous and mixed finite elements can be easily applied to 2D and 3D models using various types of elements in regular and irregular meshes. Numerical tests show good agreement with 1D and 2D analytical solutions. This approach is compared at the same time with two different numerical methods, a standard mixed finite method and a finite volume approach with high-resolution upwind terms. Regular and irregular meshes are used for the numerical tests to study the mesh effects on the numerical results. Our data show that in all cases this approach performs well. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Higher order finite element methods and multigrid solvers in a benchmark problem for the 3D Navier–Stokes equations

This paper presents a numerical study of the 3D flow around a cylinder which was defined as a benchmark problem for the steady state Navier–Stokes equations within the DFG high‐priority research program flow simulation with high‐performance computers by Schafer and Turek (Vol. 52, Vieweg: Braunschweig, 1996). The first part of the study is a comparison of several finite element discretizations with respect to the accuracy of the computed benchmark parameters. It turns out that boundary fitted higher order finite element methods are in general most accurate. Our numerical study improves the hitherto existing reference values for the benchmark parameters considerably. The second part of the study deals with efficient and robust solvers for the discrete saddle point problems. All considered solvers are based on coupled multigrid methods. The flexible GMRES method with a multiple discretization multigrid method proves to be the best solver. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

FEM-FDM coupled liquefaction analysis of a porous soil using an elasto-plastic model

The phenomenon of liquefaction is one of the most important subjects in Earthquake Engineering and Coastal Engineering. In the present study, the governing equations of such coupling problems as soil skeleton and pore water are obtained through application of the two-phase mixture theory. Using au-p (displacement of the solid phase-pore water pressure) formulation, a simple and practical numerical method for the liquefaction analysis is formulated. The finite difference method (FDM) is used for the spatial discretization of the continuity equation to define the pore water pressure at the center of the element, while the finite element method (FEM) is used for the spatial discretization of the equilibrium equation. FEM-FDM coupled analysis succeeds in reducing the degrees of freedom in the descretized equations. The accuracy of the proposed numerical method is addressed through a comparison of the numerical results and the analytical solutions for the transient response of saturated porous solids. An elasto-plastic constitutive model based on the non-linear kinematic hardening rule is formulated to describe the stress-strain behavior of granular materials under cyclic loading. Finally, the applicability of the proposed numerical method is examined. The following two numerical examples are analyzed in this study: (1) the behavior of seabed deposits under wave action, and (2) a numerical simulation of shaking table test of coal fly ash deposit.     

Some improvements on free surface simulation by the particle finite element method

The Lagrangian method has become increasingly popular in numerical simulation of free surface problems. In this paper, after a brief review of a recent Lagrangian method, namely the particle finite element method, some issues are discussed and some improvements are made. The least‐square finite element method is adopted to simplify the solving of the Navier–Stokes equations. An adaptive time method is derived to obtain suitable time steps. A mass correction procedure is imported to improve the mass conservation in long time calculations and time discretization scheme is adopted to decrease the pressure oscillations during the calculations. Finally, the method is used to simulate a series of examples and the results are compared with the commercial FLOW3D code. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Simulation of unsteady fluid filtration caused by the exploitation of underground resources

The land subsidence near an oil-producing region is simulated. The elastic filtration regime (the Terzaghi model) is used. The numerical simulation is performed by the discretization of the boundary value problem in spatial variables with the aid of the finite element method and by the finite difference discretization in time. The numerical algorithm in use is implemented as a software package. The problem of pumping a fluid from a five-layer medium is solved as an illustrative example.     

基于变形场不同离散方法的柔性机器人动力学建模与仿真

研究了基于变形场不同离散方法的柔性机器人动力学建模和仿真问题. 针对多杆空间链式柔性机器人系统,采用假设模态法、有限元法、Bezier 插值方法和B 样条插值方法对柔性杆变形场进行描述,构造统一形式,运用Lagrange 方法,结合4×4 齐次变换矩阵,在计入柔性杆横向弯曲变形引起的纵向缩短的情况下,推导得到多杆空间柔性机器人动力学方程,并编制基于4 种变形场不同离散方法的多杆空间链式柔性机器人仿真软件.通过仿真算例对柔性机器人系统的动力学问题进行研究. 仿真结果表明:有限元法的计算效率较低;假设模态法在处理较大变形问题时其精度低于Bezier 插值方法和B 样条插值方法的精度;作为新的变形体离散方法,Bezier 插值方法和B 样条插值方法可以有效地描述柔性杆的变形场,并能运用到多杆空间柔性机器人动力学建模中.      

Interval Arithmetic and Static Interval Finite Element Method

ＩｎｔｒｏｄｕｃｔｉｏｎＩｎｔｈｅａｎａｌｙｓｉｓａｎｄｄｅｓｉｇｎｏｆｓｔｒｕｃｔｕｒｅｓ,ｓｏｍｅｕｎａｖｏｉｄａｂｌｅｕｎｃｅｒｔａｉｎｔｉｅｓ ,ｓｕｃｈａｓｔｈａｔｏｆｍａｔｅｒｉａｌａｎｄｇｅｏｍｅｔｒｉｃａｌｐｒｏｐｅｒｔｉｅｓ,ｌｏａｄｓ ,ａｎｄｓｏｏｎ ,ｓｈｏｕｌｄｂｅｒｅａｓｏｎａｂｌｙｔａｋｅｎｉｎｔｏａｃｃｏｕｎｔ.Ｉｎｔｈｅｐａｓｔｄｅｃａｄｅｓ,ｔｈｅｓｅｕｎｃｅｒｔａｉｎｔｉｅｓｗｅｒｅｍｏｓｔｌｙｔｒｅａｔｅｄｗｉｔｈｐｒｏｂａｂｉｌｉｔｙｔｈｅｏｒｙｏｒｒａｎｄｏｍｐ…     

Development and validation of a SUPG finite element scheme for the compressible Navier–Stokes equations using a modified inviscid flux discretization

This paper considers the streamline‐upwind Petrov–Galerkin (SUPG) method applied to the unsteady compressible Navier–Stokes equations in conservation‐variable form. The spatial discretization, including a modified approach for interpolating the inviscid flux terms in the SUPG finite element formulation, and the second‐order accurate time discretization are presented. The numerical method is discussed in detail. The performance of the algorithm is then investigated by considering inviscid flow past a circular cylinder. Validation of the finite element formulation via comparisons with experimental data for high‐Mach number perfect gas laminar flows is presented, with a specific focus on comparisons with experimentally measured skin friction and convective heat transfer on a 15° compression ramp. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A distributed Lagrange multiplier/fictitious domain method for flows around moving rigid bodies: Application to particulate flow

This article discusses the application of a Lagrange multiplier‐based fictitious domain method to the numerical simulation of incompressible viscous flow modeled by the Navier–Stokes equations around moving rigid bodies; the rigid body motions are due to hydrodynamical forces and gravity. The solution method combines finite element approximations, time discretization by operator splitting and conjugate gradient algorithms for the solution of the linearly constrained quadratic minimization problems coming from the splitting method. The study concludes with the presentation of numerical results concerning four test problems, namely the simulation of an incompressible viscous flow around a NACA0012 airfoil with a fixed center but free to rotate, then the sedimentation of 200 and 1008 cylinders in a two‐dimensional channel, and finally the sedimentation of two spherical balls in a rectangular cylinder. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A high-order characteristics/finite element method for the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations

In this paper we consider a discretization of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations involving a second-order time scheme based on the characteristics method and a spatial discretization of finite element type. Theoretical and numerical analyses are detailed and we obtain stability results abnd optimal eror estimates on the velocity and pressure under a time step restriction less stringent than the standard Courant-Freidrichs-Levy condition. Finally, some numerical results obtained wiht the code N3S are shown which justify the interest of this scheme and its advantages with respect to an analogous first-order time scheme. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A nonlinear,transient finite element method for coupled solvent diffusion and large deformation of hydrogels

Hydrogels are capable of coupled mass transport and large deformation in response to external stimuli. In this paper, a nonlinear, transient finite element formulation is presented for initial boundary value problems associated with swelling and deformation of hydrogels, based on a nonlinear continuum theory that is consistent with classical theory of linear poroelasticity. A mixed finite element method is implemented with implicit time integration. The incompressible or nearly incompressible behavior at the initial stage imposes a constraint to the finite element discretization in order to satisfy the Ladyzhenskaya–Babuska–Brezzi (LBB) condition for stability of the mixed method, similar to linear poroelasticity as well as incompressible elasticity and Stokes flow; failure to choose an appropriate discretization would result in locking and numerical oscillations in transient analysis. To demonstrate the numerical method, two problems of practical interests are considered: constrained swelling and flat-punch indentation of hydrogel layers. Constrained swelling may lead to instantaneous surface instability for a soft hydrogel in a good solvent, which can be regulated by assuming a stiff surface layer. Indentation relaxation of hydrogels is simulated beyond the linear regime under plane strain conditions, in comparison with two elastic limits for the instantaneous and equilibrium states. The effects of Poisson’s ratio and loading rate are discussed. It is concluded that the present finite element method is robust and can be extended to study other transient phenomena in hydrogels.     

Time discretization methods in the computation of unsteady flow

对于不同非定常流动问题, 采用合适的时间离散方法,可有效提高数值精度和计算效率. 本文在总结传统时间离散方法的基础上,对近些年发展的非线性频域法、谐波平衡法、经典时间谱方法、时间谱元法、时间有限差分法等进行了系统地总结.根据离散形式的不同,将上述方法分为时域推进法、频域谐波法、时域配点法和混合方法4大类.首先简要介绍了各类方法的数学思想以及研究进展,并重点比较了(准)周期性非定常流动计算中各方法的精度、效率以及适用范围.然后, 对各种时间离散格式的特点进行总结,并就不同的非定常流动问题如何选择合适的时间离散方法给予了建议.最后, 对这些新型时间离散格式在工程中的应用进行了简要介绍,并对其发展方向进行展望.     

三维非均匀介质中弹性波传播的数值模拟

提出了一种三维非均匀介质中弹性波传播数值模拟的方法,文中称为三维格子法。该算法是二维格子法（一种二维非均匀介质中P－SV波传播的数值模拟算法）向三维非均匀介质情况的推广。在空间离散上该文方法与有限元方法类似,容许根据连续体的形状和介质分界面任意剖面网格,且自然满足自由表面边界条件。不同于常规有限差分法在各个节点上满足动力学微分方程,该算法通过满足各节点周围格子的整体平衡（积分平衡方程）来对问题进行求解,三维格子法所需的计算机内存及计算耗时与同阶精度的规则网格有限差分法相当。算例表明,该文提出的三维格子法具有较高的精度且可很好地模拟三维复杂形状地表对弹性波的反射和绕射。     

非结构网格二阶有限体积法中黏性通量离散格式精度分析与改进

非结构网格二阶有限体积离散方法广泛应用于计算流体力学工程实践中,研究非结构网格二阶精度有限体积离散方法的计算精度具有现实意义. 计算精度主要受到网格和计算方法的影响,本文从单元梯度重构方法、黏性通量中的界面梯度计算方法两个方面考察黏性流动模拟精度的影响因素. 首先从理论上分析了黏性通量离散中的“奇偶失联”问题,并通过基于标量扩散方程的制造解方法验证了“奇偶失联”导致的精度下降现象,进一步通过引入差分修正项消除了“奇偶失联”并提高了扩散方程计算精度;其次,在不同类型、不同质量的网格上进行基于扩散方程的制造解精度测试,考察单元梯度重构方法、界面梯度计算方法对扩散方程计算精度的影响,结果显示,单元梯度重构精度和界面梯度计算方法均对扩散方程计算精度起重要作用;最后对三个黏性流动算例(二维层流平板、二维湍流平板和二维翼型近尾迹流动)进行网格收敛性研究,初步验证了本文的结论,得到了计算精度和网格收敛性均较好的黏性通量计算格式.      

An EBE finite element method for simulating nonlinear flows in rotating spheroidal cavities

Many planetary and astrophysical bodies are rotating rapidly, fluidic and, as a consequence of rapid rotation, in the shape of an ablate spheroid. We present an efficient element‐by‐element (EBE) finite element method for the numerical simulation of nonlinear flows in rotating incompressible fluids that are confined in an ablate spheroidal cavity with arbitrary eccentricity. Our focus is placed on temporal and spatial tetrahedral discretization of the EBE finite element method in spheroidal geometry, the EBE parallelization scheme and the validation of the nonlinear spheroidal code via both the constructed exact nonlinear solution and the special resonant forcing in the inviscid limit. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.