Discrete element-embedded finite element model for simulation of soft particle motion and deformation

The motion and deformation of soft particles are commonly encountered and important in many applications. A discrete element-embedded finite element model (DEFEM) is proposed to solve soft particle motion and deformation, which combines discrete element and finite element methods. The collisional surface of soft particles is covered by several dynamical embedded discrete elements (EDEs) to model the collisional external forces of the particles. The particle deformation, motion, and rotation are independent of each other in the DEFEM. The deformation and internal forces are simulated using the finite element model, whereas the particle rotation and motion calculations are based on the discrete element model. By inheriting the advantages of existing coupling methods, the contact force and contact search between soft particles are improved with the aid of the EDE. Soft particle packing is simulated using the DEFEM for two cases: particle accumulation along a rectangular straight wall and a wall with an inclined angle. The large particle deformation in the lower layers can be simulated using current methods, where the deformed particle shape is either irregular in the marginal region or nearly hexagonal in the tightly packed central region. This method can also be used to simulate the deformation, motion, and heat transfer of non-spherical soft particles.     

Analysis of the electromechanical behavior of ferroelectric ceramics based on a nonlinear finite element model

A nonlinear finite element (FE) model based on domain switching was proposed to study the electromechanical behavior of ferroelectric ceramics. The incremental FE formulation was improved to avoid any calculation instability. The problems of mesh sensitivity and convergence, and the efficiency of the proposed nonlinear FE technique have been assessed to illustrate the versatility and potential accuracy of the said technique. The nonlinear electromechanical behavior, such as the hysteresis loops and butterfly curves, of ferroelectric ceramics subjected to both a uniform electric field and a point electric potential has been studied numerically. The results obtained are in good agreement with those of the corresponding theoretical and experimental analyses. Furthermore, the electromechanical coupling fields near (a) the boundary of a circular hole, (b) the boundary of an elliptic hole and (c) the tip of a crack, have been analyzed using the proposed nonlinear finite element method (FEM). The proposed nonlinear electromechanically coupled FEM is useful for the analysis of domain switching, deformation and fracture of ferroelectric ceramics.The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (10025209, 10132010 and 90208002), the Research Grants of the Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (HKU7086/02E) and the Key Grant Project of the Chinese Ministry of Education (0306)     

A finite element analysis of a free surface drainage problem of two immiscible fluids

A sharp interface problem arising in the flow of two immiscible fluids, slag and molten metal in a blast furnace, is formulated using a two-dimensional model and solved numerically. This problem is a transient two-phase free or moving boundary problem, the slag surface and the slag–metal interface being the free boundaries. At each time step the hydraulic potential of each fluid satisfies the Laplace equation which is solved by the finite element method. The ordinary differential equations determining the motion of the free boundaries are treated using an implicit time-stepping scheme. The systems of linear equations obtained by discretization of the Laplace equations and the equations of motion of the free boundaries are incorporated into a large system of linear equations. At each time step the hydraulic potential in the interior domain and its derivatives on the free boundaries are obtained simultaneously by solving this linear system of equations. In addition, this solution directly gives the shape of the free boundaries at the next time step. The implicit scheme mentioned above enables us to get the solution without handling normal derivatives, which results in a good numerical solution of the present problem. A numerical example that simulates the flow in a blast furnace is given.     

Determination of stress intensity factor with direct stress approach using finite element analysis

In this article,a direct stress approach based on finite element analysis to determine the stress intensity fac-tor is improved.Firstly,by comparing the rigorous solution against the asymptotic solution for a problem of an infinite plate embedded a central crack,we found that the stresses in a restrictive interval near the crack tip given by the rigorous solution can be used to determine the stress intensity fac-tor,which is nearly equal to the stress intensity factor given by the asymptotic solution.Secondly,the crack problem is solved numerically by the finite element method.Depending on the modeling capability of the software,we designed an adaptive mesh model to simulate the stress singularity.Thus, the stress result in an appropriate interval near the crack tip is fairly approximated to the rigorous solution of the corre-sponding crack problem.Therefore,the stress intensity factor may be calculated from the stress distribution in the appro-priate interval,with a high accuracy.     

A finite element method for analysis of fluid flow,heat transfer and free interfaces in Czochralski crystal growth

A finite element algorithm is presented for simultaneous calculation of the steady state, axisymmetric flows and the crystal, melt/crystal and melt/ambient interface shapes in the Czochralski technique for crystal growth from the melt. The analysis is based on mixed Lagrangian finite element approximations to the velocity, temperature and pressure fields and isoparametric approximations to the interface shape. Galerkin's method is used to reduce the problem to a non-linear algebraic set, which is solved by Newton's method. Sample solutions are reported for the thermophysical properties appropriate for silicon, a low-Prandtl-number semiconductor, and for GGG, a high–Prandtl–number oxide material. The algorithm is capable of computing solutions for both materials at realistic values of the Grashof number, and the calculations are convergent with mesh refinement. Flow transitions and interface shapes are calculated as a function of increasing flow intensity and compared for the two material systems. The flow pattern near the melt/gas/crystal tri-junction has the asymptotic form predicted by an inertialess analysis assuming the meniscus and solidification interfaces are fixed.     

A composites-based hyperelastic constitutive model for soft tissue with application to the human annulus fibrosus

This paper presents a composites-based hyperelastic constitutive model for soft tissue. Well organized soft tissue is treated as a composite in which the matrix material is embedded with a single family of aligned fibers. The fiber is modeled as a generalized neo-Hookean material in which the stiffness depends on fiber stretch. The deformation gradient is decomposed multiplicatively into two parts: a uniaxial deformation along the fiber direction and a subsequent shear deformation. This permits the fiber-matrix interaction caused by inhomogeneous deformation to be estimated by using effective properties from conventional composites theory based on small strain linear elasticity and suitably generalized to the present large deformation case. A transversely isotropic hyperelastic model is proposed to describe the mechanical behavior of fiber-reinforced soft tissue. This model is then applied to the human annulus fibrosus. Because of the layered anatomical structure of the annulus fibrosus, an orthotropic hyperelastic model of the annulus fibrosus is developed. Simulations show that the model reproduces the stress-strain response of the human annulus fibrosus accurately. We also show that the expression for the fiber-matrix shear interaction energy used in a previous phenomenological model is compatible with that derived in the present paper.     

Hahn-Tsai复合材料的非线性杂交应力有限元方法

成功建立了Hahn-Tsai复合材料模型的非线性杂交应力有限元方程,采用Newton-Raphson迭代法求解结构的非线性位移方程。在迭代过程中,为了提高计算效率可采用简单迭代法由节点位移求解单元应力场。但是,当载荷增加到一定程度以后,非线性应力场由于循环迭代而无法收敛,显然,一般的加速方法不能解决这种循环迭代的发散问题。因此,本文发展了一种确实有效的非线性应力场迭代新方法,在不增加计算工作量的情况下,不仅极大地提高了收敛速度,而且对于较大载荷也能够很好地收敛,从而解决了大载荷下非线性杂交元方法失败的关键问题。数值算例表明该方法是确实可行的。     

非线性动力有限元重叠区域分裂的隐式并行算法

针对大规模结构非线性瞬态动力分析非常耗时,提出了相应的并行算法。该算法采用无条件稳定的Ne-wmark-β方法(平均加速技术)进行时间积分,并结合区域分裂技术进行分析。它不同于已有的采用非重叠区域的并行算法,而是采用重叠区域的并行算法。对给定结构有限元分析的质量、阻尼、刚度矩阵进行分裂可推出重叠区域分裂算法的计算公式。为改善每一步的求解,采用预估和校正子方案。编写了该算法的程序,在工作站机群上实现了数值算例,验证了算法的性能。计算结果表明该算法优于非重叠区域分裂算法。     

A total linearization method for solving viscous free boundary flow problems by the finite element method

In this paper a total linearization method is derived for solving steady viscous free boundary flow problems (including capillary effects) by the finite element method. It is shown that the influence of the geometrical unknown in the totally linearized weak formulation can be expressed in terms of boundary integrals. This means that the implementation of the method is simple. Numerical experiments show that the iterative method gives accurate results and converges very fast.     

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.     

Stability analysis of internally damped rotating composite shafts using a finite element formulation

This paper deals with the stability analysis of internally damped rotating composite shafts. An Euler–Bernoulli shaft finite element formulation based on Equivalent Single Layer Theory (ESLT), including the hysteretic internal damping of composite material and transverse shear effects, is introduced and then used to evaluate the influence of various parameters: stacking sequences, fiber orientations and bearing properties on natural frequencies, critical speeds, and instability thresholds. The obtained results are compared with those available in the literature using different theories. The agreement in the obtained results show that the developed Euler–Bernoulli finite element based on ESLT including hysteretic internal damping and shear transverse effects can be effectively used for the stability analysis of internally damped rotating composite shafts. Furthermore, the results revealed that rotor stability is sensitive to the laminate parameters and to the properties of the bearings.     

A DOMAIN DECOMPOSITION ALGORITHM WITH FINITE ELEMENT-BOUNDARY ELEMENT COUPLING

A domain decomposition algorithm coupling the finite element and the boundary element was presented. It essentially involves subdivision of the analyzed domain into sub-regions being independently modeled by two methods, i.e., the finite element method (FEM) and the boundary element method (BEM). The original problem was restored with continuity and equilibrium conditions being satisfied on the interface of the two sub-regions using an iterative algorithm. To speed up the convergence rate of the iterative algorithm, a dynamically changing relaxation parameter during iteration was introduced. An advantage of the proposed algorithm is that the locations of the nodes on the interface of the two sub-domains can be inconsistent. The validity of the algorithm is demonstrated by the consistence of the results of a numerical example obtained by the proposed method and those by the FEM, the BEM and a present finite element-boundary element (FE-BE) coupling method.     

张拉结构非线性分析的五节点等参单元

本文针对张拉结构的特点，提出了一种五节点等参数单元有限元模型，采用四次多项式作为位移插值函数及单元初始形状函数，并假定索是理想柔性的且满足虎克定律，基于修正的Ｌａｇｒａｎｇｉａｎ坐标描述法，建立了非线性有限元基本方程和切线刚度矩阵，利用Ｎｅｗｔｏｎ－Ｒａｐｈｓｏｎ法进行了实例计算。结果表明：本文方法精度极高，可供大跨度索网，索穹顶，拉线塔等张拉结构分析，设计时采用。     

Temperature field analysis of IC molding process based on three dimensional finite element model

In the case presented in this paper, the distribution of temperature fields of the molding model during each time interval was obtained as the simulation proceeded along the molding time by using the 3D FEM with a simple division mesh. The simulation results indicate that the most temperature rise is located at the upper right hand corner of the die pad, while the least temperature rise during the molding process is located at the upper right hand corner of the lead frame. Based on the simulation results of the temperature field distribution in the molding model, we obtained the temperature variation trend as a result of changes in the geometric shapes of the molding model. Therefore, the information on the molding model and the analysis of temperature distribution during the integrated circuit molding process presented in this paper can be considered as references for the molding design for integrated circuit packaging process.     

An efficient three-dimensional semi-implicit finite element scheme for simulation of free surface flows

An efficient semi-implicit finite element model is proposed for the simulation of three-dimensional flows in stratified seas. The body of water is divided into a number of layers and the two horizontal momentum equations for each layer of water are first integrated vertically. Nine-node Lagrangian quadratic isoparametric elements are employed for spatial discretization in the horizontal domain. The time derivatives are approximated using a second-order-accurate semi-implicit time-stepping scheme. The distinguishing feature of the proposed numerical scheme is that only nodal values on the same vertical line are coupled. Two test cases for which analytic solutions are available are employed to test the proposed scheme. The test results show that the scheme is efficient and stable. A numerical experiment is also included to compare the proposed scheme with a finite difference scheme.     

A finite element formulation for analysis of functionally graded plates and shells

Summary A finite element formulation is derived for the thermoelastic analysis of functionally graded (FG) plates and shells. The power-law distribution model is assumed for the composition of the constitutent materials in the thickness direction. The procedure adopted to derive the finite element formulation contains the analytical through-the-thickness integration inherently. Such formulation accounts for the large gradient of the material properties of FG plates and shells through the thickness without using the Gauss points in the thickness direction. The explicit through-the-thickness integration becomes possible due to the proper decomposition of the material properties into the product of a scalar variable and a constant matrix through the thickness. The nonlinear heat-transfer equation is solved for thermal distribution through the thickness by the Rayleigh-Ritz method. According to the results, the formulation accounts for the nonlinear variation in the stress components through the thickness especially for regions with a variation in martial propperties near the free surfaces.     

Finite element method for the stress analysis of isotropic cylindrical helical spring

This paper presents an efficient two nodes finite element with six degrees of freedom per node, capable to model the total behaviour of a helical spring. The formulation, which includes the shear deformation effects, is based on the assumed forces hybrid approach. The resultant forces approximation verifies exactly the resultant equilibrium equations. The developed model proves its accuracy compared with other elements. This element permits to get the distribution of different stresses along the spring and through the wire surface by only one element.     

Surface waves propagation in shallow water: A finite element model

A two-dimensional (in-plane) numerical model for surface waves propagation based on the non-linear dispersive wave approach described by Boussinesq-type equations, which provide an attractive theory for predicting the depth-averaged velocity field resulting from that wave-type propagation in shallow water, is presented. The numerical solution of the corresponding partial differential equations by finite-difference methods has been the subject of several scientific works. In the present work we propose a new approach to the problem: the spatial discretization of the system composed by the Boussinesq equations is made by a finite element method, making use of the weighted residual technique for the solution approach within each element. The model is validated by comparing numerical results with theoretical solutions and with results obtained experimentally.     

Heat transfer during melting in rectangular enclosures—a finite element analysis

This paper is devoted to the finite element analysis of heat transfer during melting in rectangular enclosures. The effects of aspect ratio and subcooling on the motion of the interface and the Nusselt number have been investigated. The different schemes employed in the present work throw useful light on the choice of the appropriate method for dealing with such phase change problems.     

Lagrangian finite element analysis applied to viscous free surface fluid flow

A new Lagrangian finite element formulation is presented for time-dependent incompressible free surface fluid flow problems described by the Navier-Stokes equations. The partial differential equations describing the continuum motion of the fluid are discretized using a Galerkin procedure in conjunction with the finite element approximation. Triangular finite elements are used to represent the dependent variables of the problem. An effective time integration procedure is introduced and provides a viable computational method for solving problems with equality of representation of the pressure and velocity fields. Its success has been attributed to the strict enforcement of the continuity constraint at every stage of the iterative process. The capabilities of the analysis procedure and the computer programs are demonstrated through the solution of several problems in viscous free surface fluid flow. Comparisons of results are presented with previous theoretical, numerical and experimental results.