A finite element framework for continnua with boundary potentials

This contribution deals with the implications of the anisotropic boundary potential energies on deformational mechanics in the framework of the two-dimensional finite element method at finite strains. In the first part of this work ([6])) only the isotropic boundary potentials were considered, however, in this contribution we allow for the anisotropic contributions from the boundary energies, too. The boundary effects sometimes play a dominant role in the material behavior, e.g. surface tension in fluids. The boundary potentials, in general, are allowed to depend not only on the boundary deformation gradient but also on the spatial curve-tangent, as well. For the finite element implementation, a suitable curvilinear coordinate system attached to the boundary is defined and corresponding derivations are carried out. (© 2009 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

A finite element method for granular flow through a frictional boundary

A finite element method for the flow of dry granular solids through a domain involving a frictional contact boundary is formulated. The granular material is assumed as a compressible viscous-elastic–plastic continuum. Based on the principles of continuum mechanics, a complete set of equations is developed. The resulting boundary value problem is solved by the finite element method in space and by the finite difference method in time. The derivation of the finite element equations and the mathematical framework of the numerical technique are presented, together with two illustrative examples to demonstrate the validity of the technique.     

Particle Finite Element Simulations of Cutting Processes in Manufacturing

The cutting of metals is an important process in manufacturing and challenges established methods in the field of computational mechanics. The particle finite element method (PFEM) combines the benefits of particle based methods and the standard finite element method (FEM) to account for large deformations and separation of material. In cutting simulations the workpiece is realised as a set of particles, whose boundary is detected by the α-shape method. After the boundary detection, the particles are meshed with finite elements. Since metals show a plastic behavior under large deformations, a suitable material model needs to be considered. Numerical examples show the effect of the choice of the parameter α on the cutting force. (© 2016 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

A BE based finite element for crack propagation processes

A boundary element based finite macro element for the simulation of 3D crack propagation in the framework of linear elastic fracture mechanics is presented. While the major part of the numerical model is discretized with finite elements, a small domain containing the crack is meshed with boundary elements. By means of the Symmetric Galerkin BEM a stiffness formulation for the cracked BE domain is obtained which enables a direct FEM/BEM coupling. All necessary operations for the crack propagation are carried out within this boundary element based finite macro element and exploit the potential of the boundary integral formulation. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Penalty-combined approaches to the Ritz-Galerkin and finite element methods for singularity problems of elliptic equations

Penlty coupling techniques on an interface boundary, artificial or material, are first presented for combining the Ritz–Galerkin and finite element methods. An optimal convergence rate first is proved in the Sobolev norms. Moreover, a significant coupling strategy, L + 1 = O(|ln h|), between these two methods are derived for the Laplace equation with singularities, where L + 1 is the total number of particular solutions used in the Ritz–Galerkin method, and h is the maximal boundary length of quasiuniform elements used in the linear finite element method. Numreical experiments have been carried out for solving the benchmark model: Motz's problem. Both theoretical analysis and numreical experiments clearly display the importance of penalty-combined methods is solving elliptic equations with singularities.     

Extension of the scaled boundary finite element method to geometrical and physical nonlinearity

The scaled boundary finite element method (SBFEM) has been used in many fields of engineering to solve the governing equations in bounded and unbounded 2D as well as 3D domains. In solid mechanics, the semi-analytical solution strategy of the SBFE formulation (numerical in circumferential direction, analytical in radial direction) is based on the assumption of linear elastic material behavior and only small geometrical changes. However, a large group of materials (e.g. rubber) shows geometrical and physical nonlinearity at mechanical loading. In this contribution, the extension of the SBFEM to geometrical and physical nonlinearity is examined. A plane finite element is developed which uses the concept of shape functions constructed by the SBFEM in the framework of a nonlinear finite element analysis. (© 2014 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

A Coupled FE-BE Analysis of Smart Lightweight Structures for Active Noise and Vibration Control

Over the past years much research and development has been done in the area of active control in order to improve the acoustical and vibrational properties of thin–walled lightweight structures. An efficient technique for actively reducing the structural vibration and sound radiation is the application of smart structures. In smart structures piezoelectric materials are often used as actuators and sensors. The design of smart structures requires fast and reliable simulation tools. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to present a coupled finite element–boundary element formulation, which enables the modeling of piezoelectric smart lightweight structures. The paper describes the theoretical background of the coupled approach in which the finite element method (FEM) is applied for the modeling of the passive vibrating shell structure as well as the surface attached piezoelectric actuators and sensors. The boundary element method (BEM) is used to characterize the corresponding sound field. In order to derive a coupled FE–BE formulation additional coupling conditions are introduced at the fluid–structure interface. Since the resulting overall model contains a large number of degrees of freedom, the mode superposition method is employed to reduce the size of the FE submodel. To validate the accuracy of the proposed approach, numerical simulations are carried out in the frequency domain and the results are compared with analytical reference solutions. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Free vibration characteristics of a functionally graded beam by finite element method

This paper presents the dynamic characteristics of functionally graded beam with material graduation in axially or transversally through the thickness based on the power law. The present model is more effective for replacing the non-uniform geometrical beam with axially or transversally uniform geometrical graded beam. The system of equations of motion is derived by using the principle of virtual work under the assumptions of the Euler–Bernoulli beam theory. The finite element method is employed to discretize the model and obtain a numerical approximation of the motion equation. The model has been verified with the previously published works and found a good agreement with them. Numerical results are presented in both tabular and graphical forms to figure out the effects of different material distribution, slenderness ratios, and boundary conditions on the dynamic characteristics of the beam. The above mention effects play very important role on the dynamic behavior of the beam.     

An error indicator for parameter identification with stabilized mixed tetrahedrals

The identification of parameters in constitutive laws considering inhomogeneous states of stress and strain is realized by iteratively minimizing a least squares functional. In each iterative step of this optimization problem a finite element analysis is carried out which results in a significant higher numerical cost than a single finite element analysis. Consequently, an efficient discretization is required to keep the numerical cost low. To address this problem an adaptive mesh refinement is considered which is based on a posteriori error indicators [1] leading to refinements appropriate to the parameter identification problem. The goal is to apply the error indicators to the finite element method for tetrahedral elements of low order which are preferable for adaptive mesh refinements and in addition reduce computational effort. Additional stabilization terms in the element formulation [4, 6] reduce volume locking effects making the elements suitable for (nearly) incompressible material behavior. Numerical examples illustrate the progress on this work. (© 2011 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

New Applications of the Boundary Element Method in Dynamics of Solids

The boundary element method (BEM) is developed and applied in new fields of dynamic fracture mechanics, dynamics of composite, elasto–plastic and piezoelectric materials. The BEM results are compared with solutions computed by the finite element method (FEM) showing high accuracy of the BEM. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Fatigue mechanisms of cord–rubber composites

This article presents a continuum damage mechanics approach to characterize fatigue mechanisms of cord-rubber composites. An airspring bellow which consists of layers of rubber and reinforcing cords is considered for this work. The phenomenological material model for rubber is formulated for the purpose of analyzing the rate dependent behavior under cyclic loading. The rate dependency and hysteretic behavior are characterized by using the concept of internal variables [1]. The implementation of the constitutive formulation for rubber material is done in ABAQUS via UMAT. A fatigue failure mechanisms of cord-reinforced airspring is for example interfacial debonding. Within the framework of finite element cohesive zone modeling, a user element is developed to study the cord-rubber interfacial debonding. Furthermore, the developed methodology can be easily extended to understand the long-term effects of e.g. temperature, frequency, loading rates, amplitudes etc. on the fatigue life of airsprings. (© 2015 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Calculation of the Stress–Strain State of Plates Containing Cracks

A procedure for numerical modeling of the behavior of various planar samples of construction materials containing static and moving cracks under dynamic loading is formulated on the basis of the model of a linearly elastic solid and the application of a continuum mechanics approach. Calculations are carried out by a modified finite element method using a Lagrangian differencing scheme. The results of test calculations are given for comparison with data from a physical experiment. The comparison favorably supports the reliability of the results.     

Multiscale damage analyis for steel structures

An approach to model the deterioration of steel structures is presented by transferring the results of a continuum damage mechanics analysis to an extended beam model which can account for the loss of structural integrity. Damage starts at the microscopic level by the initiation, growth and coalescence of voids with decreasing material resistance followed by the formation of microcracks at the mesoscale. Nevertheless, the material behavior can be sufficiently modelled on a phenomenological basis taking into account viscoplasticity, hardening effects and damage evolution. The associated model parameters are identified with the help of an evolutionary algorithm adapting numerical to experimental results. Using the finite element method a nonlocal formulation of the damage variable is required to obtain mesh-independent results by structural analysis. The maximum element size is limited by the small magnitude of the internal length. Therefore, numerical analyses of large scale 3D steel structures are computationally expensive. To reduce the effort a beam element is proposed to account for the plastic hinges and the loss of resistance in the course of damage evolution. The corresponding relationship of bending moment and curvature bases on the continuum damage mechanics model. (© 2016 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

A viscoelastic analogy for solving 2-D electromagnetic problems

Solving a viscoelastic material boundary value problem provides the voltage, electric field and displacement current results to a certain class of electromagnetic problems. By means of the electromagnetic-viscoelastic analogy described herein, a solid mechanics finite element program can analyze a two-dimensional harmonic oscillation (constant frequency) electromagnetic problem for “lossy” dielectric materials. For this special class of electromagnetic field problems, the Maxwell equations reduce to a two-dimensional Laplace equation with complex coefficients. This form identically matches the viscoelasticity field equations.

This paper develops the electromagnetic-viscoelastic analogy from the basic governing field equations. The analogy is implemented in ABAQUS, a general solid mechanics finite element program. Simple one- and two-dimensional examples prove the accuracy and usefulness of the analogy.     

Boundary-discontinuous Fourier analysis of simply supported cross-ply plates

A new higher order theory based analytical solution to the static analysis of general cross-ply plates is presented. The boundary-discontinuous generalized double Fourier series approach is used to solve highly coupled linear partial differential equations with the mixed type simply supported boundary conditions prescribed on the edges. The present results will provide data for the unsolved boundary conditions and provide benchmark comparisons for early design stages and verifications of numerical results such as finite element and boundary element. Analytical results are compared with finite element counterparts using commercially available software under uniformly distributed load. Present results are in good agreement with the finite element counterparts. The effects of important parameters such as lamination scheme, material property, thickness effects as well as their interactions are investigated in detail.     

A posteriori finite element error estimators for indefinite elliptic boundary value problems ∗

A general construction technique is presented for a posteriori error estimators of finite element solutions of elliptic boundary value problems that satisfy a Gång inequality. The estimators are obtained by an element–by–element solution of ‘weak residual’ with or without considering element boundary residuals. There is no order restriction on the finite element spaces used for the approximate solution or the error estimation; that is, the design of the estimators is applicable in connection with either one of the h–p–, or hp– formulations of the finite element method. Under suitable assumptions it is shown that the estimators are bounded by constant multiples of the true error in a suitable norm. Some numerical results are given to demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the approach.     

Free vibration analysis of FGM cylindrical shells surrounded by Pasternak elastic foundation in thermal environment considering fluid-structure interaction

This paper presents an investigation on partially fluid-filled cylindrical shells made of functionally graded materials (FGM) surrounded by elastic foundations (Pasternak elastic foundation) in thermal environment. Material properties are assumed to be temperature dependent and radially variable in terms of volume fraction of ceramic and metal according to a simple power law distribution. The shells are reinforced by stiffeners attached to their inside and outside in which the material properties of shell and the stiffeners are assumed to be continuously graded in the thickness direction. The formulations are derived based on smeared stiffeners technique and classical shell theory using higher-order shear deformation theory which accounts for shear flexibility through shell's thickness. Displacements and rotations of the shell middle surface are approximated by combining polynomial functions in the meridian direction and truncated Fourier series with an appropriate number of harmonic terms in the circumferential direction. The governing equations of liquid motion are derived using a finite strip element formulation of incompressible inviscid potential flow. The dynamic pressure of the fluid is expanded as a power series in the radial direction. Moreover, the quiescent liquid free surface is modeled by concentric annular rings. A detailed numerical study is carried out to investigate the effects of power-law index of functional graded material, fluid depth, stiffeners, boundary conditions, temperature and geometry of the shell on the natural frequency of eccentrically stiffened functionally graded shell surrounded by Pasternak foundations.     

Non-conforming FEM-BEM coupling for wave propagation phenomena

In this paper, a method for coupling finite and boundary element discretizations is presented which allows for non–conforming interface discretizations. This method is applicable (but not restricted ) to static and dynamic problems of acoustics and structural mechanics. The main idea is to employ discrete Dirichlet–to–Neumann maps at each time step within the framework of a Lagrange multiplier domain decomposition method. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Computation of Material Forces in Thermoplasticity Based on Alternative Smoothing Algorithms

Different approaches to the computation of material forces in inelastic structures are investigated. Dissipative effects in inelastic materials are described by internal variables. The formulation of balance equations in the material space requires the computation of gradients of these internal variables. The computational evaluation of these gradients in the context of finite element simulations needs a global representation of the internal variable fields. On the one side, this request can be carried out by a global formulation that discretizes the internal variable fields in terms of nodal degrees additional to the displacements. A numerically more effective approach applies smoothing algorithms which project the internal variables of a typical local formulation from the integration points onto the nodal points. In detail, the implementation of two smoothing algorithms for the computation of material forces is dicussed. The L2–projection necessiates the solution of a system of equations on the global level. A patch recovery yields a smoothed solution from an element patch surrounding the nodal point of interest. The performance of both algorithms is compared for the material force computation in finite thermoplasticity. (© 2005 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Numerical instabilities in structural optimization – analogy between topology & shape design problems

The formulation of structural optimization problems on the basis of the finite–element–method often leads to numerical instabilities resulting in non–optimal designs, which turn out to be difficult to realize from the engineering point of view. In the case of topology optimization problems the formation of designs characterized by oscillating density distributions such as the well–known “checkerboard–patterns” can be observed, whereas the solution of shape optimization problems often results in unfavourable designs with non–smooth boundary shapes caused by high–frequency oscillations of the boundary shape functions. Furthermore a strong dependence of the obtained designs on the finite–element–mesh can be observed in both cases. In this context we have already shown, that the topology design problem can be regularized by penalizing spatial oscillations of the density function by means of a penalty–approach based on the density gradient. In the present paper we apply the idea of problem regularization by penalizing oscillations of the design variable to overcome the numerical difficulties related to the shape design problem, where an analogous approach restricting the boundary surface can be introduced. (© 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)