A new integral representation for quasi-periodic fields and its application to two-dimensional band structure calculations

In this paper, we consider band structure calculations governed by the Helmholtz or Maxwell equations in piecewise homogeneous periodic materials. Methods based on boundary integral equations are natural in this context, since they discretize the interface alone and can achieve high order accuracy in complicated geometries. In order to handle the quasi-periodic conditions which are imposed on the unit cell, the free-space Green’s function is typically replaced by its quasi-periodic cousin. Unfortunately, the quasi-periodic Green’s function diverges for families of parameter values that correspond to resonances of the empty unit cell. Here, we bypass this problem by means of a new integral representation that relies on the free-space Green’s function alone, adding auxiliary layer potentials on the boundary of the unit cell itself. An important aspect of our method is that by carefully including a few neighboring images, the densities may be kept smooth and convergence rapid. This framework results in an integral equation of the second kind, avoids spurious resonances, and achieves spectral accuracy. Because of our image structure, inclusions which intersect the unit cell walls may be handled easily and automatically. Our approach is compatible with fast-multipole acceleration, generalizes easily to three dimensions, and avoids the complication of divergent lattice sums.     

Boundary element method for bandgap computation of photonic crystals

A boundary element method for computing bandgap structures of two-dimensional photonic crystals is developed. For photonic crystals composed of a square or triangular lattice of parallel cylinders with arbitrarily shaped cross-sections, the boundary integral equations are formulated for a unit cell. Constant boundary elements are adopted to discretize the boundaries. Applying the periodic boundary conditions and the interface conditions, we obtain a linear eigenvalue equation with relatively small matrices. The solution of the eigenvalue equation yields the Bloch wave vectors for given frequencies. The convergence of the method for the desired accuracy and efficiency is examined by some typical numerical examples. It is shown that the present method is efficient and accurate and thus provides a flexible treatment of electromagnetic waves in periodic structures with inclusions of arbitrary shape.     

A high accuracy algorithm for 3D periodic electromagnetic scattering

We develop a highly accurate numerical method for scattering of 3D electromagnetic waves by doubly periodic structures. We approximate scattered fields using the Müller boundary integral formulation of Maxwell’s equations. The accuracy is achieved as singularities are isolated through the use of partitions of unity, leaving smooth, periodic integrands that can be evaluated with high accuracy using trapezoid sums. The removed singularities are resolved through a transformation to polar coordinates. The method relies on the ideas used in the free space scattering algorithm of Bruno and Kunyansky.     

Boundary element method for calculation of elastic wave transmission in two-dimensional phononic crystals

A boundary element method (BEM) is presented to compute the transmission spectra of two-dimensional (2-D) phononic crystals of a square lattice which are finite along the x-direction and infinite along the y-direction. The cross sections of the scatterers may be circular or square. For a periodic cell, the boundary integral equations of the matrix and the scatterers are formulated. Substituting the periodic boundary conditions and the interface continuity conditions, a linear equation set is formed, from which the elastic wave transmission can be obtained. From the transmission spectra, the band gaps can be identified, which are compared with the band structures of the corresponding infinite systems. It is shown that generally the transmission spectra completely correspond to the band structures. In addition, the accuracy and the efficiency of the boundary element method are analyzed and discussed.     

A priori mesh grading for the numerical calculation of the head-related transfer functions

Head-related transfer functions (HRTFs) describe the directional filtering of the incoming sound caused by the morphology of a listener’s head and pinnae. When an accurate model of a listener’s morphology exists, HRTFs can be calculated numerically with the boundary element method (BEM). However, the general recommendation to model the head and pinnae with at least six elements per wavelength renders the BEM as a time-consuming procedure when calculating HRTFs for the full audible frequency range. In this study, a mesh preprocessing algorithm is proposed, viz., a priori mesh grading, which reduces the computational costs in the HRTF calculation process significantly. The mesh grading algorithm deliberately violates the recommendation of at least six elements per wavelength in certain regions of the head and pinnae and varies the size of elements gradually according to an a priori defined grading function. The evaluation of the algorithm involved HRTFs calculated for various geometric objects including meshes of three human listeners and various grading functions. The numerical accuracy and the predicted sound-localization performance of calculated HRTFs were analyzed. A-priori mesh grading appeared to be suitable for the numerical calculation of HRTFs in the full audible frequency range and outperformed uniform meshes in terms of numerical errors, perception based predictions of sound-localization performance, and computational costs.     

Vibration reduction in piecewise bi-coupled periodic structures

The problem of minimizing transmitted vibrations through finitely long periodic structures is addressed. Bi-coupled periodic element properties and arrangement are tailored to localize the response around the excitation source within any assigned frequency range. Bi-dimensional analytical maps of the single unit free-wave propagation domains (stop, pass and complex domains) provide the optimal choice of the cell properties and ordering. Moreover, the amount of vibration suppression along the periodic structure is also controlled as it can be described through iso-attenuation curves representing the contour plot of the real part of the propagation constants. Applications to both undamped and damped beams resting on elastic supports are illustrated. The response of the periodic structures to harmonic excitations is expressed through the wave vector method taking into account the effects of wave reflection due to changes in the cell properties along the structure and boundary conditions. Such computational schemes enables one to overcome numerical difficulties arising in the transfer matrix formulation for structures with a large number of periodic units.     

An efficient and stable spectral method for electromagnetic scattering from a layered periodic structure

The scattering of acoustic and electromagnetic waves by periodic structures plays an important role in a wide range of problems of scientific and technological interest. This contribution focuses upon the stable and high-order numerical simulation of the interaction of time-harmonic electromagnetic waves incident upon a periodic doubly layered dielectric media with sharp, irregular interface. We describe a boundary perturbation method for this problem which avoids not only the need for specialized quadrature rules but also the dense linear systems characteristic of boundary integral/element methods. Additionally, it is a provably stable algorithm as opposed to other boundary perturbation approaches such as Bruno and Reitich’s “method of field expansions” or Milder’s “method of operator expansions”. Our spectrally accurate approach is a natural extension of the “method of transformed field expansions” originally described by Nicholls and Reitich (and later refined to other geometries by the authors) in the single-layer case.     

Optimization of the calculations of the electronic structure of carbon nanotubes

A method is proposed for calculating the electronic structure and physical properties (in particular, Young’s modulus) of nanotubes, including single-walled carbon nanotubes. This method explicitly accounts for the periodic boundary conditions for the geometric structure of nanotubes and makes it possible to decrease considerably (by a factor of 10–10³) the time needed to calculate the electronic structure with minimum error. In essence, the proposed method consists in changing the geometry of the structure by partitioning nanotubes into sectors with the introduction of the appropriate boundary conditions. As a result, it becomes possible to reduce substantially the size of the unit cell of the nanotube in two dimensions, so that the number of atoms in a new unit cell of the modified nanotube is smaller than the number of atoms in the initial unit cell by a factor equal to an integral number. A decrease in the unit cell size and the corresponding decrease in the number of atoms provide a means for drastically reducing the computational time, which, in turn, substantially decreases with an increase in the degree of partition, especially for nanotubes with large diameters. The results of the calculations performed for carbon and non-carbon (boron nitride) nanotubes demonstrate that the electronic structures, densities of states, and Young’s moduli determined within the proposed approach differ insignificantly from those obtained by conventional computational methods.     

Exact boundary conditions for the initial value problem of convex conservation laws

The initial value problem of convex conservation laws, which includes the famous Burgers’ (inviscid) equation, plays an important rule not only in theoretical analysis for conservation laws, but also in numerical computations for various numerical methods. For example, the initial value problem of the Burgers’ equation is one of the most popular benchmarks in testing various numerical methods. But in all the numerical tests the initial data have to be assumed that they are either periodic or having a compact support, so that periodic boundary conditions at the periodic boundaries or two constant boundary conditions at two far apart spatial artificial boundaries can be used in practical computations. In this paper for the initial value problem with any initial data we propose exact boundary conditions at two spatial artificial boundaries, which contain a finite computational domain, by using the Lax’s exact formulas for the convex conservation laws. The well-posedness of the initial-boundary problem is discussed and the finite difference schemes applied to the artificial boundary problems are described. Numerical tests with the proposed artificial boundary conditions are carried out by using the Lax–Friedrichs monotone difference schemes.     

Simulation of Lamb wave's interactions with transverse internal defects in an elastic plate

Lamb wave’s interactions with transverse internal defects in an elastic plate are investigated in this paper to help practical inspection work with guided wave. A 2D frequency domain hybrid boundary element method approach previously mainly used to study Lamb wave’s interactions with external defects in elastic plates is adopted in this work and extended to study the cases of internal defects. Simulation examples are presented to illustrate the reflection and transmission coefficients’ variations with various parameters including defect’s height, width, testing fd for internal symmetrical and non-symmetrical cracks, with symmetry defined with respect to the middle plane of the plate. This simulation could be a valuable tool for the research of Lamb wave’s applications in nondestructive testing (NDT) field, as the problem of internal defects could be difficult to study experimentally because of the inconvenience in machining internal defects in a real plate.     

A High-Order Discontinuous Galerkin Method for the Two-Dimensional Time-Domain Maxwell's Equations on Curved Mesh

In this paper, a DG (Discontinuous Galerkin) method which has been widely employed in CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) is used to solve the two-dimensional time-domain Maxwell's equations for complex geometries on unstructured mesh. The element interfaces on solid boundary are treated in both curved way and straight way. Numerical tests are performed for both benchmark problems and complex cases with varying orders on a series of grids, where the high-order convergence in accuracy can be observed. Both the curved and the straight solid boundary implementation can give accurate RCS (Radar Cross-Section) results with sufficiently small mesh size, but the curved solid boundary implementation can significantly improve the accuracy when using relatively large mesh size. More importantly, this CFD-based high-order DG method for the Maxwell's equations is very suitable for complex geometries.     

Shear Bloch waves and coupled phonon–polariton in periodic piezoelectric waveguides

Coupled electro-elastic SH waves propagating in a periodic piezoelectric finite-width waveguide are considered in the framework of the full system of Maxwell’s electrodynamic equations. We investigate Bloch–Floquet waves under homogeneous or alternating boundary conditions for the elastic and electromagnetic fields along the guide walls. Zero frequency stop bands, trapped modes as well as some anomalous features due to piezoelectricity are identified. For mixed boundary conditions, by modulating the ratio of the length of the unit cell to the width of the waveguide, the minimum widths of the stop bands can be moved to the middle of the Brillouin zone. The dispersion equation has been investigated also for phonon–polariton band gaps. It is shown that for waveguides at acoustic frequencies, acousto-optic coupling gives rise to polariton behavior at wavelengths much larger than the length of the unit cell but at optical frequencies polariton resonance occurs at wavelengths comparable with the period of the waveguide.     

A basic study on the sound field analysis of periodic structures by boundary integral equation method

This study deals with the development of the approximate method to analyze the sound field around equally spaced finite obstacles, using the periodic boundary condition. First, on the assumption that the equally spaced finite obstacles are the periodically arranged obstacles, the sound field is analyzed by boundary integral equation method with a Green’s function which satisfies the periodic boundary condition. Furthermore, by comparing these results and the exact solution by using the fundamental solution as Green’s function, the validity of the approximate method is also investigated. Next, in order to evaluate the applicability of the approximate method, the simple formula using some parameters, i.e., the frequency, the period, and the number of obstacles, etc., is proposed. The results of the sound field analysis applied the formula are presented.     

A multiscale hp-FEM for 2D photonic crystal bands

A multiscale generalised hp-finite element method (MSFEM) for time harmonic wave propagation in bands of locally periodic media of large, but finite extent, e.g., photonic crystal (PhC) bands, is presented. The method distinguishes itself by its size robustness, i.e., to achieve a prescribed error its computational effort does not depend on the number of periods. The proposed method shows this property for general incident fields, including plane waves incident at a certain angle to the infinite crystal surface, and at frequencies in and outside of the bandgap of the PhC. The proposed MSFEM is based on a precomputed problem adapted multiscale basis. This basis incorporates a set of complex Bloch modes, the eigenfunctions of the infinite PhC, which are modulated by macroscopic piecewise polynomials on a macroscopic FE mesh. The multiscale basis is shown to be efficient for finite PhC bands of any size, provided that boundary effects are resolved with a simple macroscopic boundary layer mesh. The MSFEM, constructed by combing the multiscale basis inside the crystal with some exterior discretisation, is a special case of the generalised finite element method (g-FEM). For the rapid evaluation of the matrix entries we introduce a size robust algorithm for integrals of quasi-periodic micro functions and polynomial macro functions. Size robustness of the present MSFEM in both, the number of basis functions and the computation time, is verified in extensive numerical experiments.     

Dynamic homogenization of split-ring metamaterials by Floquet–Bloch decomposition

We apply a novel dynamic homogenization technique to determine the frequency-dependent effective permeability of split-rings arrays. The Floquet?CBloch decomposition of Maxwell equations in this metamaterial is applied when the wavelength is much bigger than the material??s period. We replace the inclusion with a closed ring, and numerically simulate the model by nodal finite elements and a reasonable number of tetrahedral mesh elements. Our results show a good agreement with an analytical permeability law for 2D structures. This work also proposes an accurate method to model the magnetic field in the unit cell.     

Analysis on band gap properties of periodic structures of bar system using the spectral element method

In this paper, the band gap properties of the periodic structures of bar system, which include the rod-joint, truss, and frame structures, are studied using spectral element method (SEM). The spectral equations of the rod, beam, and joint elements are established and the spectral equations of the whole structures are further assembled. The frequency responses of the whole structures are calculated and the results are compared with those calculated by the finite element method (FEM). It can be observed that the SEM is more accurate in high frequency ranges. The band gap properties of the three types of periodic structures are studied, respectively. Furthermore, the effects of structural length, unit cell number, structural configurations, load conditions, and structural damping on the band gap properties are investigated.     

Simulations of multiphase flows with multiple length scales using moving mesh interface tracking with adaptive meshing

In multiphase flows, the length scales of thin regions, such as thin films between nearly touching drops and thin threads formed during the interface pinch-off, are usually several orders of magnitude smaller than the size of the drops. In this paper, a number of extra length criteria for adaptive meshes are developed and implemented in the moving mesh interface tracking method to solve these multiple-length-scale problems with high fidelity. A nominal length scale based on the solutions of Laplace’s equations with the unit normal vectors of surfaces as the boundary conditions is proposed for the adaptive mesh refinement in the thin regions. For almost flat interfaces/boundaries which are near to the thin regions, the averaged length of the interior edges sharing the two nodes with the boundary edge is introduced for the mesh adaptation. The averaged length of the interfacial edges is used for the interior elements near the interfaces but outside of the thin regions. For the interior mesh away from the interfaces/boundaries, different averaged length scales based on the initial mesh are employed for the adaptive mesh refining and coarsening. Numerous cases are simulated to demonstrate the capability of the proposed schemes in handling multiple length scales, which include the relaxation and necking of an elongated droplet, droplet–droplet head-on approaching, droplet-wall interactions, and a droplet pair in a shear flow. The smallest length resolved for the thin regions is three orders of magnitude smaller than the largest characteristic length of the problem.     

Variational multiscale element-free Galerkin method for 2D Burgers’ equation

A new numerical method, which is based on the coupling between variational multiscale method and meshfree methods, is developed for 2D Burgers’ equation with various values of Re. The proposed method takes full advantage of meshfree methods, therefore, no mesh generation and mesh recreation are involved. Meanwhile, compared with the variational multiscale finite element method, a strong assumption, that is, the fine scale vanishes identically over the element boundaries although non-zero within the elements, is not needed. Subsequently two problems which have an available analytical solution of their own are solved to analyze the convergence behaviour of the proposed method. Finally a 2D Burgers’ equation having large Re is solved and the results have also been compared with the ones computed by two other methods. The numerical results show that the proposed method can indeed obtain accurate numerical results for 2D Burgers’ equation having large Re, which does not refer to the choice of a proper stabilization parameter.     

Sufficient uniqueness conditions for the solution of the time harmonic Maxwell’s equations associated with surface impedance boundary conditions

We consider the time-harmonic Maxwell’s equations for the scattering or radiating problem from a 3-D object that is either a metallic surface coated with material layers (MCS) or a dichroic structure (DS) made up of multiple frequency selective surfaces (FSS) embedded in materials. Low or high order impedance boundary conditions (IBC) are employed to reduce the numerical complexity of the solution of this problem via an integral equation or a finite element formulation. An IBC links the tangential components of the electric field to those of the magnetic field on the outer surface of the MCS, or on the FSSs, and avoids the solution of Maxwell’s equations inside the inhomogeneous domain for a MCS or, for a DS, the meshing of the numerous unit cells in a FSS. Sufficient uniqueness conditions (SUC) are established for the solutions of Maxwell’s equations associated with these IBCs, the performances of which, when constrained by the corresponding SUCs, are numerically evaluated for an infinite or finite planar structure.     

3D FEM analyses of the ultrasonic transducer for controlled nanowire rotary driving

Controlled rotary driving of single nano objects is an important technology in the assembling of nano structures, handling of biological samples, nano measurement, etc. However, there have been little analyses on the ultrasonic transducers for the nano rotary driving, which makes the transducer’s optimization impossible. In this work, vibration characteristics of the ultrasonic transducer for rotary driving of single nanowires, which has been proposed by the authors’ group, are analyzed by the 3D finite element method (FEM), and some useful guidelines for designing the transducer are achieved. It is found that the working point still exists when the commonly used metal materials in ultrasonic transducers are used as the vibration transmission strip, and when the vibration transmission strip’s size changes. It is also found that the direction of the elliptical motion of the micro manipulating probe’s tip may be reversed by changing the size of the vibration transmission strip properly. In addition, to ensure the performance consistency of the device, the micro manipulating probe’s length L_m or driving frequency should be designed to avoid the resonance of the micro manipulating probe.