Recent advances on the fast multipole accelerated boundary element method for 3D time-harmonic elastodynamics

This article is mainly devoted to a review on fast BEMs for elastodynamics, with particular attention on time-harmonic fast multipole methods (FMMs). It also includes original results that complete a very recent study on the FMM for elastodynamic problems in semi-infinite media. The main concepts underlying fast elastodynamic BEMs and the kernel-dependent elastodynamic FM-BEM based on the diagonal-form kernel decomposition are reviewed. An elastodynamic FM-BEM based on the half-space Green’s tensor suitable for semi-infinite media, and in particular on the fast evaluation of the corresponding governing double-layer integral operator involved in the BIE formulation of wave scattering by underground cavities, is then presented. Results on numerical tests for the multipole evaluation of the half-space traction Green’s tensor and the FMM treatment of a sample 3D problem involving wave scattering by an underground cavity demonstrate the accuracy of the proposed approach. The article concludes with a discussion of several topics open to further investigation, with relevant published work surveyed in the process.     

Diagonal form fast multipole boundary element method for 2D acoustic problems based on Burton-Miller boundary integral equation formulation and its applications

This paper describes formulation and implementation of the fast multipole boundary element method (FMBEM) for 2D acoustic problems. The kernel function expansion theory is summarized, and four building blocks of the FMBEM are described in details. They are moment calculation, moment to moment translation, moment to local translation, and local to local translation. A data structure for the quad-tree construction is proposed which can facilitate implementation. An analytical moment expression is derived, which is more accurate, stable, and efficient than direct numerical computation. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the FMBEM, and radiation of a 2D vibration rail mode is simulated using the FMBEM.     

A parallel solver based on the dual Schur decomposition of general finite element matrices

A parallel solver based on domain decomposition is presented for the solution of large algebraic systems arising in the finite element discretization of mechanical problems. It is hybrid in the sense that it combines a direct factorization of the local subdomain problems with an iterative treatment of the interface system by a parallel GMRES algorithm. An important feature of the proposed solver is the use of a set of Lagrange multipliers to enforce continuity of the finite element unknowns at the interface. A projection step and a preconditioner are proposed to control the conditioning of the interface matrix. The decomposition of the finite element mesh is formulated as a graph partitioning problem. A two-step approach is used where an initial decomposition is optimized by non-deterministic heuristics to increase the quality of the decomposition. Parallel simulations of a Navier–Stokes flow problem carried out on a Convex Exemplar SPP system with 16 processors show that the use of optimized decompositions and the preconditioning step are keys to obtaining high parallel efficiencies. Typical parallel efficiencies range above 80%. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A variable stiffness dual boundary element method for mixed-mode elastoplastic crack problems

A dual boundary element formulation is presented for elastoplastic crack problems using a variable stiffness approach. In this approach the Von Mises yield criterion with strain hardening is used and the unknown non-linear terms, as the initial strains, are now defined in function of the scalar flow factors. Dual BEM variable stiffness formulation, based on the utilisation of the traction equation on one of the crack surfaces and the displacement equation on the other, is presented for the solution of general elastoplastic fracture mechanics problems. The validity of the present formulation has been assessed by comparing with the well known iterative dual BEM elastoplastic approach.     

基于边界元法求解三维弹性摩擦接触问题

边界元法求解三维摩擦接触问题,其中一个关键点在于如何确定滑移方向。即当出现相对滑移时,滑移方向如何确定。当前常采用的方法是,粘结点利用切向面力得到滑移方向,滑移点利用切向相对位移得到滑移方向。不过该方法难以保证收敛性。针对这一问题,本文采用滑移方向预测技术得到滑移方向。即以后出现相对滑移时,滑移方向采用预测技术中得到的滑移方向。由于摩擦接触问题和历史加载相关,本文采用增量法求解。不同摩擦系数下的数值结果都证明了本文算法的有效性和收敛性及滑移方向预测技术的有效性。     

基于参数曲面三维势问题的边界面法

提出了边界元法(BEM)的一种新的实现方法——边界面法(BFM)。在传统的边界元法中,单元不仅用来进行边界积分和函数插值,而且用来近似几何体。当离散网格较稀疏时,会引起较大几何误差,因而影响计算精度。本文基于参数曲面,将几何实体的边界曲面离散为参数空间里的曲面单元,边界积分和场变量的插值都是在曲面参数空间里进行。积分点...     

基于单元子分法的结构多尺度边界单元法

建立在基于单元子分法的一种有效自适应格式以及多区域边界元三步求解技术基础上提出了一种计算结构多尺度问题的多区域边界元法。首先,通过高斯积分误差分析公式确定边界单元在满足精度要求下所需要的高斯点数,当所需高斯点数超过规定数目时该单元就被自动划分成一定数量的子单元,从而消除结构多尺度所引起的近奇异性。在单元子分技术的基础上采用多区域边界元三步求解技术来处理材料非均质问题:第一步消除各子域的内部未知量,第二步消除各子域独自拥有的边界未知量,第三步根据位移相容性条件和面力平衡条件建立系统方程组并求解公共界面节点位移以及每个子域的其他未知量。数值算例结果表明本方法可以用较少的计算时间得到满意的结果,是处理结构多尺度问题的一种有效方法。     

基于等几何分析的比例边界有限元方法

提出了一种具有比例边界有限元的半解析特性和等几何分析的几何特性的新方法。该新方法是在比例边界有限元框架中用NURBS曲线或曲面精确描述域边界几何形状,同时域边界位移场采用描述几何形状的NURBS形函数等参构造。这种新方法具有比例边界有限元固有的径向解析特性和NURBS的高阶连续性的优点。数值算例显示,与传统的比例边界有限元相比,基于等几何分析的比例边界有限元方法提高了域边界单元和域内应力场的连续性,减少了计算自由度。应用此方法可以用较少的计算自由度获得更高连续阶和更高精度的位移、应力和应变场。     

A wideband fast multipole boundary element method for half-space/plane-symmetric acoustic wave problems

This paper presents a novel wideband fast multipole boundary element approach to 3D half-space/planesymmetric acoustic wave problems.The half-space fundamental solution is employed in the boundary integral equations so that the tree structure required in the fast multipole algorithm is constructed for the boundary elements in the real domain only.Moreover,a set of symmetric relations between the multipole expansion coefficients of the real and image domains are derived,and the half-space fundamental solution is modified for the purpose of applying such relations to avoid calculating,translating and saving the multipole/local expansion coefficients of the image domain.The wideband adaptive multilevel fast multipole algorithm associated with the iterative solver GMRES is employed so that the present method is accurate and efficient for both lowand high-frequency acoustic wave problems.As for exterior acoustic problems,the Burton-Miller method is adopted to tackle the fictitious eigenfrequency problem involved in the conventional boundary integral equation method.Details on the implementation of the present method are described,and numerical examples are given to demonstrate its accuracy and efficiency.     

A symmetrical nonsingular boundary element method

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Conformal mapping and efficient boundary element method without boundary elements for fast vortex particle simulations

In this paper, a revitalization of conformal mapping methods applied to fluid flows in two dimensions is proposed. The present work addresses several important issues concerning their application for vortex particle flow solvers. Difficulties of past conformal based method are reviewed. One difficulty concerns the ability of a mapping procedure to represent complicated shapes. The present paper improves past algorithms to be able to map new shapes, including multiply connected domains. A new fast procedure allows transferring a set of points in the mapped simplified plane to the complicated domain and vice versa. After a mapping construction, it is demonstrated how basic exact solutions to potential flow problems with vortices can be put in a new form which provides a faster and more accurate computation than with distributed singularity methods.     

A boundary element formulation for wear modeling on 3D contact and rolling-contact problems

The present work shows a new numerical treatment for wear simulation on 3D contact and rolling-contact problems. This formulation is based on the boundary element method (BEM) for computing the elastic influence coefficients and on projection functions over the augmented Lagrangian for contact restrictions fulfillment. The constitutive equations of the potential contact zone are Signorini’s contact conditions, Coulomb’s law of friction and Holm–Archard’s law of wear. The proposed methodology is applied to predict wear on different contact and rolling-contact problems. Results are validated with numerical solutions and semi-analytical models presented in the literature. The BEM considers only the degrees of freedom involved on these kind of problems (those on the solids surfaces), reducing the number of unknowns and obtaining a very good approximation on contact tractions using a low number of elements. Together with the formulation, an acceleration strategy is presented allowing to reduce the times of resolution.     

Analysis of periodic 3D viscous flows using a quadratic discrete Galerkin boundary element method

A discrete Galerkin boundary element technique with a quadratic approximatión of the variables was developed to simulate the three-dimensional (3D) viscous flow established in periodic assemblages of particles in suspensions and within a periodic porous medium. The Batchelor's unit-cell approach is used. The Galerkin formulation effectively handles the discontinuity in the traction arising in flow boundaries with edges or corners, such as the unit cell in this case. For an ellipsoidal dilute suspension over the range of aspect ratio studied (1 to 54), the numerical solutions of the rotational velocity of the particles and the viscosity correction were found to agree with the analytic values within 0.2% and 2% respectively, even with coarse meshes. In a suspension of cylindrical particles the calculated period of rotation agreed with the experimental data. However, Burgers' predictions for the correction to the suspension viscosity were found to be 30% too low and therefore the concept of the equivalent ellipsoidal ratio is judged to be inadequate. For pressure-driven flow through a fixed bed of fibres, the prediction on the permeability was shown to deviate by as much as 10% from the value calculated based on approximate permeability additivity rules using the corresponding values for planar flow past a periodic array of parallel cylinders. These applications show the versatility of the technique for studying viscous flows in complicated 3D geometries.     

NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF 2D FIBER-REINFORCED COMPOSITES USING BOUNDARY ELEMENT METHOD

Introduction Withthedevelopmentofmodernindustry,compositesareincreasinglybeingappliedto agreatnumberofimportantstructures.Todeterminethemacroscopicaleffective characteristicsofcompositesisanessentialprobleminmanyengineeringapplications.The macroscopicalef…     

A boundary element formulation using the simple method

A new boundary element method is described for calculation of the steady incompressible laminar flows. The method is based on the well-known SIMPLE algorithm. The new boundary element method allows one to find the fields of the pressure and velocity corrections without inner iterations, thus reducing the computational time drastically. This makes it different from the method developed by Patankar and Spalding.³² However, the new method demands a much larger computer strorage. The boundary integral equations are discretized with the help of constant boundary elements and constant cells. The values of the integrals along the boundary elements and the cells for the two-dimensional domain are found analytically. To preserve the stability in the iteration process, under-relaxation for the convection terms is used. This paper gives the results of calculations of the flows between two plane parallel plates at Re = 20 and Re = 200, the flows in a square cavity with a moving upper lid at Re = 1 and Re = 100 and the flow in a plane channel with sudden symmetric expansion at Re =46·6.     

A regular boundary element method for fluid flow

The Boundary Element Method is now well established as a valid numerical technique for the solution of field problems, equal to the Finite Element Method in generality and surpassing it in computational efficiency in some cases.¹ In this paper is presented a 'Regular Boundary Element Method' as applied to inviscid laminar fluid flow problems. It involves the formation of a system of regular integral equations obtained by moving the singularity outside the domain of the given problem. It is also shown that non-conforming elements may be used whereby freedoms are not defined at the geometric nodes under the boundary element discretization. A linear element is developed here; higher order variants could easily be defined. Satisfactory numerical results have been obtained using the proposed regular method with both conventional (continuous across the boundary) and non-conforming boundary elements for two-dimensional inviscid laminar fluid flow problems having regular and singular solutions.     

A boundary element method for anisotropic coupled thermoelasticity

Summary A boundary element formulation is presented for the solution of the equations of fully coupled thermoelasticity for materials of arbitrary degree of anisotropy. By employing the fundamental solutions of anisotropic elastostatics and stationary heat conduction, a system of equations with time-independent matrices is obtained. Since the fundamental solutions are uncoupled and time-independent, a domain integral remains in the representation formula which contains the time-dependence as well as the thermoelastic coupling. This domain integral is transformed to the boundary by means of the dual reciprocity method. By taking this approach, the use of dynamic fundamental solutions is avoided, which enables an efficient calculation of system matrices. In addition, the solution of transient processes as well as, free and forced vibration analysis becomes straightforward and can be carried out with standard time-stepping schemes and eigensystem solvers. Another important advantage of the present formulation is its versatility, since it includes a number of simplified thermoelastic theories, viz. the theory of thermal stresses, coupled and uncoupled quasi-static thermoelasticity, and stationary thermoelasticity. The accuracy of the new thermoelastic boundary element method is demonstrated by a number of example problems. Support by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) of the Graduate Collegium Modelling and discretization methods for continua and fluids (GKKS) at the University of Stuttgart is gratefully acknowledged.     

Wideband fast multipole boundary element method: Application to acoustic scattering from aerodynamic bodies

A wideband adaptive multi‐level fast multipole method (MLFMM) is used to accelerate the matrix–vector products arising from a boundary element method (BEM) formulation which solves the Burton–Miller boundary integral equation (BIE). The wideband MLFMM presented here applies a plane wave expansion formulation with fast interpolation and filtering for calculations in the high‐frequency regime and a partial wave expansion formulation with rotation‐coaxial translation in the low‐frequency regime. The iterative solvers GMRES, Bi‐CGSTAB and CGS are tested and compared and a block diagonal preconditioner is used to improve the condition number of the BEM matrices and to accelerate the convergence of the iterative solvers. Details on the implementation of the formulations are described, including the treatment of singular integrals. Results for acoustic scattering from a wing plus engine nacelle configuration for a prescribed source in a subsonic uniform flow are presented for a broad range of frequencies in order to assess the implemented capability. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The 3-D boundary element method of roller bearing by plate element analogue

The mill roller bearing is made up of an internal ring, middle rolls and an external ring, the analysis of which is a multi-bodies contact problem. In this paper, based on the three-dimensional elastic contact BEM without friction, and using the structural characteristics of roller bearings, middle rolls are described by elastic plate units of different shapes, which is placed on the internal ring. The discontinuous traction problem of the contact element can be dealt with by the traction sub-element method. Therefore the contact problem can be changed from one of multi-bodies to one of two-bodies. As an elastic deformation of the plate element, it can be calculated by an elastic contact formula and is regarded as an equivalent gap to be put into the total matrix equality. The face-to-face contact condition of displacement and traction on the element will serve as the convergence judging condition. So convergence solution can be obtained before any geometry inconsistent on the contact element may take place. Therefore, the three-dimensional distribution of load of the mill roller bearing can be achieved. It has been proved that the calculating model of this method is visualized and simple, has fast convergence solution and higher accuracy, making it an effective numerical method of designing and analyzing load characteristics of the mill roller bearing. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (50075075).     

An efficient 3D stochastic finite element method

Real life structural systems are characterized by their inherent or externally induced uncertainties in the design parameters. This study proposes a stochastic finite element tool efficient to take account of these uncertainties. Here uncertain structural parameter is modeled as homogeneous Gaussian stochastic field and commonly used two-dimensional (2D) local averaging technique is extended and generalized for 3D random field. This is followed by Cholesky decomposition of respective covariance matrix for digital simulation. By expanding uncertain stiffness matrix about its reference value, the Neumann expansion method is introduced blended with direct Monte Carlo simulation. This approach involves decomposition of stiffness matrix only once for the entire simulated structure. Thus substantial saving of CPU time and also the scope of tackling several stochastic fields simultaneously are the basic advantages of the proposed algorithm. Accuracy and efficiency of this method with reference to example problem is also studied here and numerical results validate its superiority over direct simulation method or first-order perturbation approach.