Adaptive time stepping strategy for solidification processes based on modified local time truncation error

Adaptive time step methods provide a computationally efficient means of simulating transient problems with a high degree of numerical accuracy. However, choosing appropriate time steps to model the transient characteristics of solidification processes is difficult. The Gresho–Lee–Sani predictor–corrector strategy, one of the most commonly applied adaptive time step methods, fails to accurately model the latent heat release associated with phase change due to its exaggerated time steps while the apparent heat capacity method is applied. Accordingly, the current study develops a modified local time truncation error‐based strategy designed to adaptively adjust the size of the time step during the simulated solidification procedure in such a way that the effects of latent heat release are more accurately modeled and the precision of the computational solutions correspondingly improved. The computational accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method are demonstrated via the simulation of several one‐dimensional and two‐dimensional thermal problems characterized by different phase change phenomena and boundary conditions. The feasibility of the proposed method for the modeling of solidification processes is further verified via its applications to the enthalpy method. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mixed nonlinear localization strategy for the buckling and post-buckling analyses of structures: parameter optimization and path following implementation

In previous work, the nonlinear localization was first presented and studied in the case of large displacements but only for globally stable structural responses. In this paper, the influence of the local error criterion on the performance of the strategy is investigated in structures exhibiting more complex behaviour, such as snap-through and snap-back. Second, a path following method is implemented in the domain decomposition framework of the strategy in order to track the solution around a critical point (snap-through and snap-back).     

A two‐scale approximation of the Schur complement and its use for non‐intrusive coupling

This paper presents a two‐scale approximation of the Schur complement of a subdomain's stiffness matrix, obtained by combining local (i.e. element strips) and global (i.e. homogenized) contributions. This approximation is used in the context of a coupling strategy that is designed to embed local plasticity and geometric details into a small region of a large linear elastic structure; the strategy consists in creating a local model that contains the desired features of the concerned region and then substituting it into the global problem by the means of a non‐intrusive solver coupling technique adapted from domain decomposition methods. Using the two‐scale approximation of the Schur complement as a Robin condition on the local model enables to reach high efficiency. Examples include a large 3D problem provided by our industrial partner Snecma. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A convergent adaptive finite element method for the primal problem of elastoplasticity

The boundary value problem representing one time step of the primal formulation of elastoplasticity with positive hardening leads to a variational inequality of the second kind with some nondifferentiable functional. This paper establishes an adaptive finite element algorithm for the solution of this variational inequality that yields the energy reduction and, up to higher order terms, the R‐linear convergence of the stresses with respect to the number of loops. Applications include several plasticity models: linear isotropic‐kinematic hardening, linear kinematic hardening, and multisurface plasticity as model for nonlinear hardening laws. For perfect plasticity, the adaptive algorithm yields strong convergence of the stresses. Numerical examples confirm an improved linear convergence rate and study the performance of the algorithm in comparison with the more frequently applied maximum refinement rule. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Improved modal truncation error in the directly analytical method for damage identification of frame structures

A directly analytical method of structural identification is derived by sensitivity theory and iteration theory. The application.of the directly analytical method of damage identification for frame structures is discussed in this paper. To increase the calculation accuracy and the construction convenience, the author improved the modal truncation error on the basis of the generally direct analytical method, and thus the required modal number could be reduced. The least modal number for damage identification drops from 23 to 16 by improving the method. The damage identification is made by the numerical simulation analysis of a five-storey-and-two-span RC frame structure, using improved and unimproved direct analytical method respectively; and the fundamental equations was solved by the minimal least square method (viz. general inverse method). It demonstrates that the feasibility and the accuracy of the present approach was impoved significantly, compared with the result of unimproved damage identification.     

Group‐theoretic exploitations of symmetry in computational solid and structural mechanics

The use of group theory in simplifying the study of problems involving symmetry is a well‐established approach in various branches of physics and chemistry, and major applications in these areas date back more than 70 years. Within the engineering disciplines, the search for more systematic and more efficient strategies for exploiting symmetry in the computational problems of solid and structural mechanics has led to the development of group‐theoretic methods over the past 40 years. This paper reviews the advances made in the application of group theory in areas such as bifurcation analysis, vibration analysis and finite element analysis, and summarizes the various implementation procedures currently available. Illustrative examples of typical solution procedures are drawn from recent work of the author. It is shown how the group‐theoretic approach, through the characteristic vector‐space decomposition, enables considerable simplifications and reductions in computational effort to be achieved. In many cases, group‐theoretic considerations also allow valuable insights on the behaviour or properties of a system to be gained, before any actual calculations are carried out. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A general procedure for deriving symmetric expressions for the secant and tangent stiffness matrices in finite element analysis

The paper presents a general and straightforward procedure based on the use of the strain energy density for deriving symmetric expressions of the secant and tangent stiffness matrices for finite element analysis of geometrically non-linear structural problems. The analogy with previously proposed methods for deriving secant and tangent matrices is detailed. The simplicity of the approach is shown in an example of application. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A posteriori error estimates and adaptivity for finite element solutions in finite elasticity

Methods for a posteriori error estimation for finite element solutions are well established and widely used in engineering practice for linear boundary value problems. In contrast here we are concerned with finite elasticity and error estimation and adaptivity in this context. In the paper a brief outline of continuum theory of finite elasticity is first given. Using the residuals in the equilibrium conditions the discretization error of the finite element solution is estimated both locally and globally. The proposed error estimator is physically interpreted in the energy sense. We then present and discuss the convergence behaviour of the discretization error in uniformly and adaptively refined finite element sequences.     

A posteriori analysis and adaptive error control for operator decomposition solution of coupled semilinear elliptic systems

In this paper, we develop an a posteriori error analysis for operator decomposition iteration methods applied to systems of coupled semilinear elliptic problems. The goal is to compute accurate error estimates that account for the combined effects arising from numerical approximation (discretization) and operator decomposition iteration. In an earlier paper, we considered ‘triangular’ systems that can be solved without iteration. In contrast, operator decomposition iterative methods for fully coupled systems involve an iterative solution technique. We construct an error estimate for the numerical approximation error that specifically addresses the propagation of error between iterates and provide a computable estimate for the iteration error arising because of the decomposition of the operator. Finally, we develop an adaptive discretization strategy to systematically reduce the discretization error.Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A methodology for the formulation of error estimators for time integration in linear solid and structural dynamics

In this article, we present a novel methodology for the formulation of a posteriori error estimators applicable to time‐stepping algorithms of the type commonly employed in solid and structural mechanics. The estimators constructed with the presented methodology are accurate and can be implemented very efficiently. More importantly, they provide reliable error estimations even in non‐smooth problems where many standard estimators fail to capture the order of magnitude of the error. The proposed methodology is applied, as an illustrative example, to construct an error estimator for the Newmark method. Numerical examples of its performance and comparison with existing error estimators are presented. These examples verify the good accuracy and robustness predicted by the analysis. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A univariate dimension-reduction method for multi-dimensional integration in stochastic mechanics

This paper presents a new, univariate dimension-reduction method for calculating statistical moments of response of mechanical systems subject to uncertainties in loads, material properties, and geometry. The method involves an additive decomposition of a multi-dimensional response function into multiple one-dimensional functions, an approximation of response moments by moments of single random variables, and a moment-based quadrature rule for numerical integration. The resultant moment equations entail evaluating N number of one-dimensional integrals, which is substantially simpler and more efficient than performing one N-dimensional integration. The proposed method neither requires the calculation of partial derivatives of response, nor the inversion of random matrices, as compared with commonly used Taylor expansion/perturbation methods and Neumann expansion methods, respectively. Nine numerical examples involving elementary mathematical functions and solid-mechanics problems illustrate the proposed method. Results indicate that the univariate dimension-reduction method provides more accurate estimates of statistical moments or multidimensional integration than first- and second-order Taylor expansion methods, the second-order polynomial chaos expansion method, the second-order Neumann expansion method, statistically equivalent solutions, the quasi-Monte Carlo simulation, and the point estimate method. While the accuracy of the univariate dimension-reduction method is comparable to that of the fourth-order Neumann expansion, a comparison of CPU time suggests that the former is computationally far more efficient than the latter.     

A single parameter to evaluate stress state in rail head for rolling contact fatigue analysis

Based on the Smith‐Watson‐Topper (SWT) method, a phenomenological approach for multiaxial fatigue analysis, the maximum SWT parameter is proposed as a single parameter to evaluate the stress state in the rail head for assessing the fatigue integrity of the structure. A numerical procedure to calculate the maximum SWT parameter from a finite element analysis is presented and applied in a case study, where the stress and strain fields due to wheel/rail rolling contact are obtained from a three‐dimensional finite element simulation with the steady‐state transport analysis technique. The capability of the SWT method to predict fatigue crack initiation in the rail head is confirmed in the case study. Analogous to von Mises stress for strength analysis, the maximum SWT parameter can be applied to evaluate the fatigue loading state not only in rail head due to rolling contact fatigue but also in a generic structure subjected to a cyclic loading.     

A posteriori error estimation for finite element solutions of Helmholtz’ equation. part I: the quality of local indicators and estimators

This paper contains a first systematic analysis of a posteriori estimation for finite element solutions of the Helmholtz equation. In this first part, it is shown that the standard a posteriori estimates, based only on local computations, severely underestimate the exact error for the classes of wave numbers and the types of meshes employed in engineering analysis. This underestimation can be explained by observing that the standard error estimators cannot detect one component of the error, the pollution error, which is very significant at high wave numbers. Here, a rigorous analysis is carried out on a one-dimensional model problem. The analytical results for the residual estimator are illustrated and further investigated by numerical evaluation both for a residual estimator and for the ZZ-estimator based on smoothening. In the second part, reliable a posteriori estimators of the pollution error will be constructed. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A locking‐free selective smoothed finite element method using tetrahedral and triangular elements with adaptive mesh rezoning for large deformation problems

A novel finite element (FE) formulation with adaptive mesh rezoning for large deformation problems is proposed. The proposed method takes the advantage of the selective smoothed FE method (S‐FEM), which has been recently developed as a locking‐free FE formulation with strain smoothing technique. We adopt the selective face‐based smoothed/node‐based smoothed FEM (FS/NS‐FEM‐T4) and edge‐based smoothed/node‐based smoothed FEM (ES/NS‐FEM‐T3) basically but modify them partly so that our method can handle any kind of material constitutive models other than elastic models. We also present an adaptive mesh rezoning method specialized for our S‐FEM formulation with material constitutive models in total form. Because of the modification of the selective S‐FEMs and specialization of adaptive mesh rezoning, our method is locking‐free for severely large deformation problems even with the use of tetrahedral and triangular meshes. The formulation details for static implicit analysis and several examples of analysis of the proposed method are presented in this paper to demonstrate its efficiency. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A new parallel sparse direct solver: Presentation and numerical experiments in large‐scale structural mechanics parallel computing

The main purpose of this work is to present a new parallel direct solver: Dissection solver. It is based on LU factorization of the sparse matrix of the linear system and allows to detect automatically and handle properly the zero‐energy modes, which are important when dealing with DDM. A performance evaluation and comparisons with other direct solvers (MUMPS, DSCPACK) are also given for both sequential and parallel computations. Results of numerical experiments with a two‐level parallelization of large‐scale structural analysis problems are also presented: FETI is used for the global problem parallelization and Dissection for the local multithreading. In this framework, the largest problem we have solved is of an elastic solid composed of 400 subdomains running on 400 computation nodes (3200 cores) and containing about 165 millions dof. The computation of one single iteration consumes less than 20 min of CPU time. Several comparisons to MUMPS are given for the numerical computation of large‐scale linear systems on a massively parallel cluster: performances and weaknesses of this new solver are highlighted. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.