Mode III fracture analysis by Trefftz boundary element method

This paper presents a hybrid Trefftz (HT) boundary element method (BEM) by using two indirect techniques for mode III fracture problems. Two Trefftz complete functions of Laplace equation for normal elements and a special purpose Trefftz function for crack elements are proposed in deriving the Galerkin and the collocation techniques of HT BEM. Then two auxiliary functions are introduced to improve the accuracy of the displacement field near the crack tips, and stress intensity factor (SIF) is evaluated by local crack elements as well. Furthermore, numerical examples are given, including comparisons of the present results with the analytical solution and the other numerical methods, to demonstrate the efficiency for different boundary conditions and to illustrate the convergence influenced by several parameters. It shows that HT BEM by using the Galerkin and the collocation techniques is effective for mode III fracture problems. The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(10472082). The English text was polished by Keren Wang.     

AN EFFICIENT PREDICTION METHOD FOR THE TWO-DIMENSIONAL COUPLED STRUCTURAL-ACOUSTIC ANALYSIS

A wave number method (WNM) is proposed to deal with the two-dimensional cou-pled structural-acoustic problem. Based on an indirect Trefftz approach, the displacement andthe pressure response are approximated respectively by a set of wave functions, which exactlysatisfy the governing equations and are independent of the size of the coupled system. The wavefunctions comprise the exact solutions of the homogeneous part of the governing equations andsome particular solution functions, which arise from the external excitation. The weighting coef-ficients of the wave functions can be obtained by enforcing the pressure approximation to satisfythe boundary conditions and it is performed by applying the weighted residual formulation. Theexample is computed by the WNM and the BEM. The results show that, the WNM can attainthe same accuracy and convergence as the BEM with less degrees of freedom. structural-acoustic, Trefftz-method,BEM,weighted residual formulation     

FUNDAMENTAL SOLUTION BASED GRADED ELEMENT MODEL FOR STEADY-STATE HEAT TRANSFER IN FGM

A novel hybrid graded element model is developed in this paper for investigating thermal behavior of functionally graded materials (FGMs). The model can handle a spatially varying material property field of FGMs. In the proposed approach, a new variational functional is first constructed for generating corresponding finite element model. Then, a graded element is formulated based on two sets of independent temperature fields. One is known as intra-element temperature field defined within the element domain; the other is the so-called frame field defined on the element boundary only. The intra-element temperature field is constructed using the linear combination of fundamental solutions, while the independent frame field is separately used as the boundary interpolation functions of the element to ensure the field continuity over the interelement boundary. Due to the properties of fundamental solutions, the domain integrals appearing in the variational functional can be converted into boundary integrals which can significantly simplify the calculation of generalized element stiffness matrix. The proposed model can simulate the graded material properties naturally due to the use of the graded element in the finite element (FE) model. Moreover, it inherits all the advantages of the hybrid Trefftz finite element method (HT-FEM) over the conventional FEM and boundary element method (BEM). Finally, several examples are presented to assess the performance of the proposed method, and the obtained numerical results show a good numerical accuracy.     

Axisymmetric viscoplastic deformation by the boundary element method

This paper presents a boundary element formulation and numerical implementation of the problem of small axisymmetric deformation of viscoplastic bodies. While the extension from planar to axisymmetric problems can be carried out fairly simply for the finite element method (FEM), this is far from true for the boundary element method (BEM). The primary reason for this fact is that the axisymmetric kernels in the integral equations of the BEM contain elliptic functions which cannot be integrated analytically even over boundary elements and internal cells of simple shape. Thus, special methods have to be developed for the efficient and accurate numerical integration of these singular and sensitive kernels over discrete elements. The accurate determination of stress rates by differentiation of the displacement rates presents another formidable challenge.A successful numerical implementation of the boundary element method with elementwise (called the Mixed approach) or pointwise (called the pure BEM or BEM approach) determination of stress rates has been carried out. A computer program has been developed for the solution of general axisymmetric viscoplasticity problems. Comparisons of numerical results from the BEM and FEM, for several illustrative problems, are presented and discussed in the paper. It is possible to get direct solutions for the simpler class of problems for cylinders of uniform cross-section, and these solutions are also compared with the BEM and FEM results for such cases.     

混合Trefftz有限元法反平面断裂问题的探讨

基于修正变分原理,采用满足控制微分方程的应力和位移混合Trefftz函数,满足裂纹单元断裂性质的特殊Trefftz函数以及满足裂纹尖端条件的附加试函数,推导出混合Trefftz有限元法反平面断裂问题公式,给出应力集中因子解析表达式.同时,给出单个边裂纹、单个曲折裂纹和三个边裂纹反平面裂纹问题三个算例,探讨特殊Trefftz函数个数、破裂单元个数、高斯点数以及不同附加试函数对结果的影响.最后,将计算结果与一般有限元算法或其它方法结果进行对比,分析了混合Trefftz有限元法的精确性和高效性.     

A coupled FEM/BEM approach and its accuracy for solving crack problems in fracture mechanics

The finite element (FEM) and the boundary element methods (BEM) are well known powerful numerical techniques for solving a wide range of problems in applied science and engineering. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages, so that it is desirable to develop a combined finite element/boundary element method approach, which makes use of their advantages and reduces their disadvantages. Several coupling techniques are proposed in the literature, but until now the incompatibility of the basic variables remains a problem to be solved. To overcome this problem, a special super-element using boundary elements based on the usual finite element technique of total potential energy minimization has been developed in this paper. The application of the most commonly used approaches in finite element method namely quarter-point elements and J-integrals techniques were examined using the proposed coupling FEM–BEM. The accuracy and efficiency of the proposed approach have been assessed for the evaluation of stress intensity factors (SIF). It was found that the FEM–BEM coupling technique gives more accurate values of the stress intensity factors with fewer degrees of freedom.     

二维位势边界元法高阶单元几乎奇异积分半解析算法

准确计算几乎奇异积分是边界元法难题之一。目前,对于一般的高阶单元的几乎奇异积分尚缺乏通用高效的计算方法。本文在单元局部坐标系中表征了二维高阶单元的几何特征,提出了源点相对高阶单元的接近度概念。针对二维位势边界元法的3节点二次等参单元,构造出与单元积分核具有相同几乎奇异性的近似奇异核函数。从二维位势几乎奇异积分单元积分核中扣除近似奇异核函数,把几乎奇异积分项转换为规则积分和奇异积分两部分之和,规则积分部分用常规Gauss数值积分计算,奇异积分部分由导出的解析公式计算,从而建立了二维位势问题高阶单元几乎强奇异和超奇异积分的半解析算法。算例结果表明了本文半解析算法的有效性和计算精度。     

双材料界面裂纹复应力强度因子的正则化边界元法

双材料界面裂纹渐近位移和应力场表现出剧烈的振荡特性,许多用于表征经典平方根(r1/2)和负平方根(r?1/2)渐近物理场的传统数值方法失效,给界面裂纹复应力强度因子(K1+iK2)的精确求解增加了难度.引入一种含有复振荡因子的新型"特殊裂尖单元",可精确表征裂纹尖端渐近位移和应力场的振荡特性,在避免裂尖区域高密度网格剖...     

Regularized computation of interior displacements and stresses by BEM

Summary The computation of interior displacements and stresses with the boundary element method (BEM) often requires the evaluation of nearly singular integrals. These integrals arise from the singular behaviour of the kernel functions in the Somigliana identity and the Somigliana stress identity. Treating them numerically in a standard way leads to inaccuracy near the boundary. This effect is always present in the calculation of field variables near the boundary and is called boundary layer effect. In this paper regularization procedures are proposed which consist of an indirect evaluation of singular integrals and a special coordinate transformation. The proposed procedures eliminate the boundary layer effect for both, the calculation of displacements and stresses. In a numerical example of elastostatics the developed strategies are shown to work. Due to the generality of the proposed procedures they can be extended to any standard boundary element formulation for problems with bounded domains.     

Numerical comparison of two boundary element methods for plane harmonic functions

A direct boundary element method (BEM) has been studied in the paper based on a set of sufficient and necessary boundary integral equations (BIE) for the plane harmonic functions. The new sufficient and necessary BEM leads to accurate results while the conventional insufficient BEM will lead to inaccurate results when the conventional BIE has multiple solutions. Theoretical and numerical analyses show that it is beneficial to use the sufficient and necessary BEM, to avoid hidden dangers due to non-unique solution of the conventional BIE.     

Hybrid finite element formulations for elastodynamic analysis in the frequency domain

Three alternative sets of hybrid formulations to solve linear elastodynamic problems by the finite element method are presented. They are termed hybrid–mixed, hybrid and hybrid–Trefftz and differ essentially on the field conditions that the approximation functions are constrained to satisfy locally. Two models, namely the displacement and the stress models, are obtained for each formulation depending on whether the tractions or the boundary displacements are the field chosen to implement interelement continuity. A Fourier time discretization is used to uncouple the solving system in the frequency domain. The basic space discretization criterion is implemented directly on the fundamental relations of elastodynamics and used to derive the stress and displacement models of the hybrid–mixed formulation. The hybrid and hybrid–Trefftz formulations are presented in sequence as the variants of the hybrid–mixed formulation obtained by progressively increasing the constraints on the approximation bases. Numerical implementation aspects are briefly discussed and the performance of the finite element models is illustrated with numerical applications.     

Trefftz间接法解自由面渗流问题

渗流问题是岩体水力学研究的重点之一,较常规的有限元法和传统的边界元法而言,Trefftz型边界元法具有程序简单、计算量小及无须奇异积分等特点。本文给出定常和非定常自由面渗流问题的Trefftz解法,计算结果表明,该法收敛性好,结果比较精确。     

On the Dynamic Interaction and Cross-Interaction of 2D Rigid Structures with Orthotropic Elastic Media Possessing General Principal Axes Orientation

A direct boundary element method (BEM) implementation for the dynamic interaction analysis in the frequency domain of 2D rigid structures with elastic orthotropic media is presented. The BEM implementation is based on non-singular full-space influence functions. The rigid structure response is obtained by applying equilibrium and kinetic compatibility conditions. The method is applied to the analysis of the dynamic response of a rigid tunnel in a half-space with various elasticity principal axes inclinations and to the analysis of two rigid rectangular galleries in a half space with various distances between them.     

Neural networks for BEM analysis of steady viscous flows

This paper presents a new neural network‐boundary integral approach for analysis of steady viscous fluid flows. Indirect radial basis function networks (IRBFNs) which perform better than element‐based methods for function interpolation, are introduced into the BEM scheme to represent the variations of velocity and traction along the boundary from the nodal values. In order to assess the effect of IRBFNs, the other features used in the present work remain the same as those used in the standard BEM. For example, Picard‐type scheme is utilized in the iterative procedure to deal with the non‐linear convective terms while the calculation of volume integrals and velocity gradients are based on the linear finite element‐based method. The proposed IRBFN‐BEM is verified on the driven cavity viscous flow problem and can achieve a moderate Reynolds number of 1400 using a relatively coarse uniform mesh. The results obtained such as the velocity profiles along the horizontal and vertical centrelines as well as the properties of the primary vortex are in very good agreement with the benchmark solution. Furthermore, the secondary vortices are also captured by the present method. Thus, it appears that an ability to represent the boundary solution accurately can significantly improve the overall solution accuracy of the BEM. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Solution of the Navier–Stokes equations in velocity–vorticity form using a Eulerian–Lagrangian boundary element method

This paper describes the Eulerian–Lagrangian boundary element model for the solution of incompressible viscous flow problems using velocity–vorticity variables. A Eulerian–Lagrangian boundary element method (ELBEM) is proposed by the combination of the Eulerian–Lagrangian method and the boundary element method (BEM). ELBEM overcomes the limitation of the traditional BEM, which is incapable of dealing with the arbitrary velocity field in advection‐dominated flow problems. The present ELBEM model involves the solution of the vorticity transport equation for vorticity whose solenoidal vorticity components are obtained iteratively by solving velocity Poisson equations involving the velocity and vorticity components. The velocity Poisson equations are solved using a boundary integral scheme and the vorticity transport equation is solved using the ELBEM. Here the results of two‐dimensional Navier–Stokes problems with low–medium Reynolds numbers in a typical cavity flow are presented and compared with a series solution and other numerical models. The ELBEM model has been found to be feasible and satisfactory. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Trefftz有限元法的研究进展

Trefftz有限元法（Trefftz finite element method,TFEM）是一种高效的数值计算方法,兼有传统有限元法和边界元法的诸多优点.基于双独立插值模式,结合杂交泛函和高斯散度定理,推得仅含边界积分的有限元格式.简述了过去10年间（2007-2016） Trefftz有限元法在单元域内插值函数、源项处理、特殊功能单元以及非各向同性材料等方面的研究进展,并对未来的发展趋势给出了几点展望.     

弹性动力学高阶核无关快速多极边界元法

基于核无关的快速多极方法, 发展了一种弹性动力学问题的快速、高精度边界元分析方法. 采用基于二次曲面单元的Nystr?m 离散, 将边界积分方程转化为求和形式, 可以方便地进行加速计算;由于采用二次元, 边界元分析精度很高. 将一种新型快速多极方法用于Nystr?m 边界元法的加速计算, 该方法的数值实现简便、不依赖于积分方程基本解的表达式, 因此通用性很好;该方法还具有最优的计算量和存储量、精度高且可以控制. 结合Nystr?m 边界元系数矩阵和快速多极方法转换矩阵的特点, 提出一种大幅度降低边界元内存消耗的策略. 数值结果表明, 该方法无论在分析精度, 还是计算速度和内存消耗上, 都大大优于同类方法, 是一种快速、通用的工程弹性动力学问题大规模数值分析方法.      

A HIGH ORDER KERNEL INDEPENDENT FAST MULTIPOLE BOUNDARY ELEMENT METHOD FOR ELASTODYNAMICS

基于核无关的快速多极方法, 发展了一种弹性动力学问题的快速、高精度边界元分析方法. 采用基于二次曲面单元的Nyström 离散, 将边界积分方程转化为求和形式, 可以方便地进行加速计算;由于采用二次元, 边界元分析精度很高. 将一种新型快速多极方法用于Nyström 边界元法的加速计算, 该方法的数值实现简便、不依赖于积分方程基本解的表达式, 因此通用性很好;该方法还具有最优的计算量和存储量、精度高且可以控制. 结合Nyström 边界元系数矩阵和快速多极方法转换矩阵的特点, 提出一种大幅度降低边界元内存消耗的策略. 数值结果表明, 该方法无论在分析精度, 还是计算速度和内存消耗上, 都大大优于同类方法, 是一种快速、通用的工程弹性动力学问题大规模数值分析方法.     

A simple and efficient BEM implementation of quasistatic linear visco-elasticity

A simple yet efficient procedure to solve quasistatic problems of special linear visco-elastic solids at small strains with equal rheological response in all tensorial components, utilizing boundary element method (BEM), is introduced. This procedure is based on the implicit discretisation in time (the so-called Rothe method) combined with a simple “algebraic” transformation of variables, leading to a numerically stable procedure (proved explicitly by discrete energy estimates), which can be easily implemented in a BEM code to solve initial-boundary value visco-elastic problems by using the Kelvin elastostatic fundamental solution only. It is worth mentioning that no inverse Laplace transform is required here. The formulation is straightforward for both 2D and 3D problems involving unilateral frictionless contact. Although the focus is to the simplest Kelvin–Voigt rheology, a generalization to Maxwell, Boltzmann, Jeffreys, and Burgers rheologies is proposed, discussed, and implemented in the BEM code too. A few 2D and 3D initial-boundary value problems, one of them with unilateral frictionless contact, are solved numerically.     

Application of scaled boundary finite element method in static and dynamic fracture problems

The scaled boundary finite element method (SBFEM) is a recently developed numerical method combining advantages of both finite element methods (FEM) and boundary element methods (BEM) and with its own special features as well. One of the most prominent advantages is its capability of calculating stress intensity factors (SIFs) directly from the stress solutions whose singularities at crack tips are analytically represented. This advantage is taken in this study to model static and dynamic fracture problems. For static problems, a remeshing algorithm as simple as used in the BEM is developed while retaining the generality and flexibility of the FEM. Fully-automatic modelling of the mixed-mode crack propagation is then realised by combining the remeshing algorithm with a propagation criterion. For dynamic fracture problems, a newly developed series-increasing solution to the SBFEM governing equations in the frequency domain is applied to calculate dynamic SIFs. Three plane problems are modelled. The numerical results show that the SBFEM can accurately predict static and dynamic SIFs, cracking paths and load-displacement curves, using only a fraction of degrees of freedom generally needed by the traditional finite element methods.The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (50579081) and the Australian Research Council (DP0452681)The English text was polished by Keren Wang.