On a reduced mixed s-v least-squares finite element formulation for the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations

In the present work a mixed finite element based on a least-squares approach (LSFEM) is proposed. We consider a formulation for Newtonian fluid flow, which is described by the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. The starting point is a div-grad three-field first-order system with stresses, velocities, and pressure as unknowns. Following the idea in CAI et al. [1], this three-field formulation can be transformed into a reduced stress-velocity (s-v) two-field formulation, which is the basis for the associated minimization problem. In order to show the applicability of the considered approach a numerical example is presented at the end of the paper. (© 2012 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

On mixed finite element methods for linear elastodynamics

Summary We construct and analyze finite element methods for approximating the equations of linear elastodynamics, using mixed elements for the discretization of the spatial variables. We consider two different mixed formulations for the problem and analyze semidiscrete and up to fourth-order in time fully discrete approximations.L ² optimal-order error estimates are proved for the approximations of displacement and stress.Work supported in part by the Hellenic State Scholarship Foundation     

An improved mixed finite element based on a modified least-squares formulation for hyperelasticity

The present work deals with the solution of geometrically nonlinear elastic problems solved by the least-squares finite element method (LSFEM). The main goal is to obtain an improved performance and an accurate approximation in particular for lower-order elements. Basis for the mixed element is a first-order stress-displacement formulation resulting from a classical least-squares method. Similar to the ideas in SCHWARZ ET AL. [1] a modified weak form is derived by the introduction of an additional term controlling the stress symmetry condition. The approximation of the unknowns follows the same procedures as for a conventional least-squares method, see e.g. CAI & STARKE [2]. The proposed modified formulation is compared to recently developed classical LSFEMs, in order to show the improvement of performance and accuracy. (© 2014 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

A mixed finite element formulation for piezoelectric shells

A finite element formulation to analyze piezoelectric shell problems is presented. A reference surface of the shell is modelled with a four node element. Each node possesses six mechanical degrees of freedom, three displacements and three rotations, and one electric degree of freedom, which is the difference of the electric potential in thickness direction. The formulation is based on the mixed field variational principle of Hu-Washizu. The independent fields are displacements u , electric potential φ, strains E , electric field E , stresses S and dielectric displacements D . The mixed formulation allows an interpolation of the strains and the electric field in thickness direction. Accordingly a three-dimensional material law is incorporated in the variational formulation. It is remarked that no simplification regarding the constitutive law is assumed. The formulation allows the consideration of arbitrary constitutive relations. The normal zero stress condition and the normal zero dielectric displacement condition are enforced by the independent stress and dielectric displacement fields. They are defined as zero in thickness direction. The present shell element fulfills the important patch tests: the in-plane, bending and shear test. Some numerical examples demonstrate the applicability of the present piezoelectric shell element. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

A mixed least-squares formulation of the Navier-Stokes equations for incompressible Newtonian fluid flow

The goal of this contribution is the numerical simulation of Newtonian fluid flow. In order to solve the governing incompressible Navier-Stokes equations, a mixed finite element based on a least-squares formulation is presented. We derive a div-grad first-order system resulting in a three-field approach with stresses, velocities, and pressure as unknowns, see e.g. Cai et al. [1], which is the basis for the associated minimization problem. Finally, a numerical example is presented to show the applicability and performance of the considered formulation. (© 2011 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

A new family of stable elements for nearly incompressible elasticity based on a mixed Petrov-Galerkin finite element formulation

Summary Adding to the classical Hellinger Reissner formulation another residual form of the equilibrium equation, a new Petrov-Galerkin finite element method is derived. It fits within the framework of a mixed finite element method and is proved to be stable for rather general combinations of stress and displacement interpolations, including equal-order discontinuous stress and continuous displacement interpolations which are unstable within the Galerkin approach. Error estimates are presented using the Babuka-Brezzi theory and numerical results confirm these estimates as well as the good accuracy and stability of the method.Dedicated to Professor Ivo Babuka on the occasion of his sixtieth birthdayPrepared for the conference on: The Impact of Mathematical Analysis on the Solution of Engineering Problems. University of Maryland, September 1986.     

Simple finite element method in vorticity formulation for incompressible flows

A very simple and efficient finite element method is introduced for two and three dimensional viscous incompressible flows using the vorticity formulation. This method relies on recasting the traditional finite element method in the spirit of the high order accurate finite difference methods introduced by the authors in another work. Optimal accuracy of arbitrary order can be achieved using standard finite element or spectral elements. The method is convectively stable and is particularly suited for moderate to high Reynolds number flows.

     

Nonconforming elements in least-squares mixed finite element methods

In this paper we analyze the finite element discretization for the first-order system least squares mixed model for the second-order elliptic problem by means of using nonconforming and conforming elements to approximate displacement and stress, respectively. Moreover, on arbitrary regular quadrilaterals, we propose new variants of both the rotated nonconforming element and the lowest-order Raviart-Thomas element.

     

Comparison of different least-squares mixed finite element formulations for hyperelasticity

The main goal of this contribution is the solution of geometrically nonlinear problems using the mixed least-squares finite element method (LSFEM). An investigation of a hyperelastic material law based on logarithmic deformation measures is performed. The basis for the proposed LSFEM is a div-grad first-order system consisting of the equilibrium condition and the constitutive equation, see e.g. Cai and Starke [1]. For the interpolation of the solution variables vector-valued Raviart-Thomas functions for the approximation of the stresses and standard Lagrange polynomials for the displacements are used. In order to show the performance of the presented formulations a numerical example is investigated, where we compare the different interpolation combinations used. (© 2016 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

An adaptive least-squares mixed finite element method for nonlinear parabolic problems

A least-squares mixed finite element method for nonlinear parabolic problems is investigated in terms of computational efficiency. An a posteriori error estimator, which is needed in an adaptive refinement algorithm, was composed with the least-squares functional, and a posteriori errors were effectively estimated.     

Two new least-squares mixed finite element procedures for convection-dominated Sobolev equations

Two new least-squares mixed finite element procedures are formulated for solving convection-dominated Sobolev equations. Optimal H(div;Ω)×H ¹(Ω) norms error estimates are derived under the standard mixed finite spaces. Moreover, these two schemes provide the approximate solutions with first-order and second-order accuracy in time increment, respectively.     

A Galerkin/least-square finite element formulation for nearly incompressible elasticity/stokes flow

A Galerkin/least-square finite element formulation (GLS) is used to study mixed displacement-pressure formulation of nearly incompressible elasticity. In order to fully incorporate the effect of the residual-based stabilized term to the weak form, the second derivatives of shape functions were also derived and accounted, which can accurately discretize the residual term and improve the GLS method as well as the Petrov–Galerkin method. The numerical studies show that improved stabilized method can effectively remove volumetric locking problem for incompressible elasticity and stabilize the pressure field for stokes flow. When apply GLS to study material nonlinearity, the derivative of tangent modulus at the integration point will be required. Both advantage and disadvantage of using GLS method for nearly incompressible elasticity/stokes flow were demonstrated.     

Dual-mixed variational formulation and hp finite element method for axisymmetric shell problems in elastodynamics

A new dimensionally reduced axisymmetric shell model is presented briefly for modeling time-dependent problems. This is based on the extended version of the three-field dual-mixed variational formulation of elastostatics [1, 2] to linear elastodynamics, the independent fields of which are the non-symmetric stress tensor, the displacement- and the rotation vector. An important property of the related shell model is that the classical kinematical hypotheses regarding the deformation of the normal to the shell middle surface are not used, i.e., unmodified three-dimensional constitutive equations are applied. The computational performance of the new h- and p-version axisymmetric shell finite elements is tested through a representative cylindrical shell problems. The development presented in this paper has been motivated by the fact that efficient dual-mixed hp plate and shell finite elements were managed previously to be developed for elastostatics by [1-5]. (© 2013 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Analysis of least-squares mixed finite element methods for nonlinear nonstationary convection-diffusion problems

Some least-squares mixed finite element methods for convection-diffusion problems, steady or nonstationary, are formulated, and convergence of these schemes is analyzed. The main results are that a new optimal a priori error estimate of a least-squares mixed finite element method for a steady convection-diffusion problem is developed and that four fully-discrete least-squares mixed finite element schemes for an initial-boundary value problem of a nonlinear nonstationary convection-diffusion equation are formulated. Also, some systematic theories on convergence of these schemes are established.

     

A symmetric mixed finite element method for nearly incompressible elasticity based on biorthogonal systems

We present a symmetric version of the nonsymmetric mixed finite element method presented in (Lamichhane, ANZIAM J 50 (2008), C324–C338) for nearly incompressible elasticity. The displacement–pressure formulation of linear elasticity is discretized using a Petrov–Galerkin discretization for the pressure equation in (Lamichhane, ANZIAM J 50 (2008), C324–C338) leading to a non‐symmetric saddle point problem. A new three‐field formulation is introduced to obtain a symmetric saddle point problem which allows us to use a biorthogonal system. Working with a biorthogonal system, we can statically condense out all auxiliary variables from the saddle point problem arriving at a symmetric and positive‐definite system based only on the displacement. We also derive a residual based error estimator for the mixed formulation of the problem. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2012     

Stabilized finite element methods for the velocity-pressure-stress formulation of incompressible flows Nonlinear model

Formulated in terms of velocity, pressure and the extra stress tensor, the incompressible Navier-Stokes is discretized by stabilized finite element method. The stabilized method proposed is analyzed for the full nonlinear model, and is applicable to various combinations of interpolation functions, including the simplest equal-order linear and bilinear elements.     

Error analysis of a weighted least-squares finite element method for 2-D incompressible flows in velocity–stress–pressure formulation

In this paper we are concerned with a weighted least-squares finite element method for approximating the solution of boundary value problems for 2-D viscous incompressible flows. We consider the generalized Stokes equations with velocity boundary conditions. Introducing the auxiliary variables (stresses) of the velocity gradients and combining the divergence free condition with some compatibility conditions, we can recast the original second-order problem as a Petrovski-type first-order elliptic system (called velocity–stress–pressure formulation) in six equations and six unknowns together with Riemann–Hilbert-type boundary conditions. A weighted least-squares finite element method is proposed for solving this extended first-order problem. The finite element approximations are defined to be the minimizers of a weighted least-squares functional over the finite element subspaces of the H¹ product space. With many advantageous features, the analysis also shows that, under suitable assumptions, the method achieves optimal order of convergence both in the L²-norm and in the H¹-norm. © 1998 B. G. Teubner Stuttgart—John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Simplex finite element analysis of viscous incompressible flow with penalty function formulation

Viscous flow calculations are important for the determination of separated flows, recirculating flows, secondary flows and so on. This paper presents a penalty function approach for the finite element analysis of steady incompressible viscous flow. A simplex element is used with linear velocity and constant pressure in contrast to other works which usually employ higher order elements. Simplex elements yield analytical expressions for the element matrices which in turn lead to efficient solutions. Earlier works have partially indicated how constrain and lock-up problems might be avoided for simplex elements. This paper extends the earlier works by indicating the approach in detail and verifying that it is successful for several applications not discussed in the literature so far. Solution times and accuracy considerations are discussed for Couette flow, plane Poiseuille flow, a driven cavity problem, and laminar and turbulent flow over a step.     

A mixed hybrid formulation based on oscillated finite element polynomials for solving Helmholtz problems

A mixed-hybrid-type formulation is proposed for solving Helmholtz problems. This method is based on (a) a local approximation of the solution by oscillated finite element polynomials and (b) the use of Lagrange multipliers to “weakly” enforce the continuity across element boundaries. The computational complexity of the proposed discretization method is determined mainly by the total number of Lagrange multiplier degrees of freedom introduced at the interior edges of the finite element mesh, and the sparsity pattern of the corresponding system matrix. Preliminary numerical results are reported to illustrate the potential of the proposed solution methodology for solving efficiently Helmholtz problems in the mid- and high-frequency regimes.     

A finite element method for nearly incompressible elasticity problems

A finite element method is considered for dealing with nearly incompressible material. In the case of large deformations the nonlinear character of the volumetric contribution has to be taken into account. The proposed mixed method avoids volumetric locking also in this case and is robust for (with being the well-known Lamé constant). Error estimates for the -norm are crucial in the control of the nonlinear terms.