An efficient and high‐order frequency‐domain approach for transient acoustic–structure interactions in three dimensions

This paper is concerned with numerical solution of the transient acoustic–structure interaction problems in three dimensions. An efficient and higher‐order method is proposed with a combination of the exponential window technique and a fast and accurate boundary integral equation solver in the frequency‐domain. The exponential window applied to the acoustic–structure system yields an artificial damping to the system, which eliminates the wrap‐around errors brought by the discrete Fourier transform. The frequency‐domain boundary integral equation approach relies on accurate evaluations of relevant singular integrals and fast computation of nonsingular integrals via the method of equivalent source representations and the fast Fourier transform. Numerical studies are presented to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the method. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Implementation of a generalized exponential basis functions method for linear and non‐linear problems

In this paper, we address shortcomings of the method of exponential basis functions by extending it to general linear and non‐linear problems. In linear problems, the solution is approximated using a linear combination of exponential functions. The coefficients are calculated such that the homogenous form of equation is satisfied on some grid. To solve non‐linear problems, they are converted to into a succession of linear ones using a Newton–Kantorovich approach. The generalized exponential basis functions (GEBF) method developed can be implemented with greater ease compared with exponential basis functions, as all calculations can be performed using real numbers and no characteristic equation is needed. The details of an optimized implementation are described. We compare GEBF on some benchmark problems with methods in the literature, such as variants of the boundary element method, where GEBF shows a good performance. Also, in a 3D problem, we report the run time of the proposed method compared with that of Kratos, a parallel, highly optimized finite element code. The results show that in this example, to obtain the same level of error, much less computational effort is needed in the proposed method. Practical limitations might be encountered, however, for large problems because of dense matrix operations involved. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A semi‐analytic collocation technique for steady‐state strongly nonlinear advection‐diffusion‐reaction equations with variable coefficients

The aim of this paper is to present a new semi‐analytic numerical method for strongly nonlinear steady‐state advection‐diffusion‐reaction equation (ADRE) in arbitrary 2‐D domains. The key idea of the method is the use of the basis functions which satisfy the homogeneous boundary conditions of the problem. Each basis function used in the algorithm is a sum of an analytic basis function and a special correcting function which is chosen to satisfy the homogeneous boundary conditions of the problem. The polynomials, trigonometric functions, conical radial basis functions, and the multiquadric radial basis functions are used in approximation of the ADRE. This allows us to seek an approximate solution in the analytic form which satisfies the boundary conditions of the initial problem with any choice of free parameters. As a result, we separate the approximation of the boundary conditions and the approximation of the ADRE inside the solution domain. The numerical examples confirm the high accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method in solving strongly nonlinear equations in an arbitrary domain.     

Solution of FE‐BE coupled eigenvalue problems for the prediction of the vibro‐acoustic behavior of ship‐like structures

To predict the vibro‐acoustic behavior of structures, both a structural problem and an acoustic problem have to be solved. For thin structures immersed in water, a strong interaction between the structural domain and fluid domain occurs. This significantly alters the resonance frequencies. In this work, the structure is modeled by the finite element method. The exterior acoustic problem is solved by a fast boundary element method employing hierarchical matrices. An FE‐BE formulation is presented, which allows the solution of the coupled eigenvalue problem and thus the prediction of the coupled eigenfrequencies and mode shapes. It is based on a Schur complement formulation of the FE‐BE system yielding a generalized eigenvalue problem. A Krylov–Schur solver is applied for its efficient solution. Hereby, the compressibility of the fluid is neglected. The coupled eigensolution is then used for a model reduction strategy allowing fast frequency sweep calculations. The efficiency of the proposed formulations is investigated with respect to memory consumption, accuracy, and computation time. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A new particular solution strategy for hyperbolic boundary value problems using hybrid‐Trefftz displacement elements

A new indirect approach to the problem of approximating the particular solution of non‐homogeneous hyperbolic boundary value problems is presented. Unlike the dual reciprocity method, which constructs approximate particular solutions using radial basis functions, polynomials or trigonometric functions, the method reported here uses the homogeneous solutions of the problem obtained by discarding all time‐derivative terms from the governing equation. Nevertheless, what typifies the present approach from a conceptual standpoint is the option of not using these trial functions exclusively for the approximation of the particular solution but to fully integrate them with the (Trefftz‐compliant) homogeneous solution basis. The particular solution trial basis is capable of significantly improving the Trefftz solution even when the original equation is genuinely homogeneous, an advantage that is lost if the basis is used exclusively for the recovery of the source terms. Similarly, a sufficiently refined Trefftz‐compliant basis is able to compensate for possible weaknesses of the particular solution approximation. The method is implemented using the displacement model of the hybrid‐Trefftz finite element method. The functions used in the particular solution basis reduce most terms of the matrix of coefficients to boundary integral expressions and preserve the Hermitian, sparse and localized structure of the solving system that typifies hybrid‐Trefftz formulations. Even when domain integrals are present, they are generally easy to handle, because the integrand presents no singularity. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Kriging‐based error‐reproducing and interpolating kernel method for improved mesh‐free approximations

An error‐reproducing and interpolating kernel method (ERIKM), which is a novel and improved form of the error‐reproducing kernel method (ERKM) with the nodal interpolation property, is proposed. The ERKM is a non‐uniform rational B‐splines (NURBS)‐based mesh‐free approximation scheme recently proposed by Shaw and Roy (Comput. Mech. 2007; 40 (1):127–148). The ERKM is based on an initial approximation of the target function and its derivatives by NURBS basis functions. The errors in the NURBS approximation and its derivatives are then reproduced via a family of non‐NURBS basis functions. The non‐NURBS basis functions are constructed using a polynomial reproduction condition and added to the NURBS approximation obtained in the first step. In the ERKM, the interpolating property at the boundary is achieved by repeating the knot (open knot vector). However, for most problems of practical interest, employing NURBS with open knots is not possible because of the complex geometry of the domain, and consequently ERKM shape functions turn out to be non‐interpolating. In ERIKM, the error functions are obtained through localized Kriging based on a minimization of the squared variance of the estimate with the reproduction property as a constraint. Interpolating error functions so obtained are then added to the NURBS approximant. While enriching the ERKM with the interpolation property, the ERIKM naturally possesses all the desirable features of the ERKM, such as insensitivity to the support size and ability to reproduce sharp layers. The proposed ERIKM is finally applied to obtain strong and weak solutions for a class of linear and non‐linear boundary value problems of engineering interest. These illustrations help to bring out the relative numerical advantages and accuracy of the new method to some extent. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Interface dynamic stiffness matrix approach for three‐dimensional transient multi‐region boundary element analysis

A novel substructuring method is developed for the coupling of boundary element and finite element subdomains in order to model three‐dimensional multi‐region elastodynamic problems in the time domain. The proposed procedure is based on the interface stiffness matrix approach for static multi‐region problems using variational principles together with the concept of Duhamel integrals. Unit impulses are applied at the boundary of each region in order to evaluate the impulse response matrices of the Duhamel (convolution) integrals. Although the method is not restricted to a special discretization technique, the regions are discretized using the boundary element method combined with the convolution quadrature method. This results in a time‐domain methodology with the advantages of performing computations in the Laplace domain, which produces very accurate and stable results as verified on test examples. In addition, the assembly of the boundary element regions and the coupling to finite elements are greatly simplified and more efficient. Finally, practical applications in the area of soil–structure interaction and tunneling problems are shown. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Isogeometric FEM‐BEM coupled structural‐acoustic analysis of shells using subdivision surfaces

We introduce a coupled finite and boundary element formulation for acoustic scattering analysis over thin‐shell structures. A triangular Loop subdivision surface discretisation is used for both geometry and analysis fields. The Kirchhoff‐Love shell equation is discretised with the finite element method and the Helmholtz equation for the acoustic field with the boundary element method. The use of the boundary element formulation allows the elegant handling of infinite domains and precludes the need for volumetric meshing. In the present work, the subdivision control meshes for the shell displacements and the acoustic pressures have the same resolution. The corresponding smooth subdivision basis functions have the C¹ continuity property required for the Kirchhoff‐Love formulation and are highly efficient for the acoustic field computations. We verify the proposed isogeometric formulation through a closed‐form solution of acoustic scattering over a thin‐shell sphere. Furthermore, we demonstrate the ability of the proposed approach to handle complex geometries with arbitrary topology that provides an integrated isogeometric design and analysis workflow for coupled structural‐acoustic analysis of shells.     

An improved continued‐fraction‐based high‐order transmitting boundary for time‐domain analyses in unbounded domains

A high‐order local transmitting boundary to model the propagation of acoustic or elastic, scalar or vector‐valued waves in unbounded domains of arbitrary geometry is proposed. It is based on an improved continued‐fraction solution of the dynamic stiffness matrix of an unbounded medium. The coefficient matrices of the continued‐fraction expansion are determined recursively from the scaled boundary finite element equation in dynamic stiffness. They are normalised using a matrix‐valued scaling factor, which is chosen such that the robustness of the numerical procedure is improved. The resulting continued‐fraction solution is suitable for systems with many DOFs. It converges over the whole frequency range with increasing order of expansion and leads to numerically more robust formulations in the frequency domain and time domain for arbitrarily high orders of approximation and large‐scale systems. Introducing auxiliary variables, the continued‐fraction solution is expressed as a system of linear equations in iω in the frequency domain. In the time domain, this corresponds to an equation of motion with symmetric, banded and frequency‐independent coefficient matrices. It can be coupled seamlessly with finite elements. Standard procedures in structural dynamics are directly applicable in the frequency and time domains. Analytical and numerical examples demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method to an existing approach and its suitability for time‐domain simulations of large‐scale systems. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Trefftz‐based dual reciprocity method for hyperbolic boundary value problems

A new dual reciprocity‐type approach to approximating the solution of non‐homogeneous hyperbolic boundary value problems is presented in this paper. Typical variants of the dual reciprocity method obtain approximate particular solutions of boundary value problems in two steps. In the first step, the source function is approximated, typically using radial basis, trigonometric or polynomial functions. In the second step, the particular solution is obtained by analytically solving the non‐homogeneous equation having the approximation of the source function as the non‐homogeneous term. However, the particular solution trial functions obtained in this way typically have complicated expressions and, in the case of hyperbolic problems, points of singularity. Conversely, the method presented here uses the same trial functions for both source function and particular solution approximations. These functions have simple expressions and need not be singular, unless a singular particular solution is physically justified. The approximation is shown to be highly convergent and robust to mesh distortion. Any boundary method can be used to approximate the complementary solution of the boundary value problem, once its particular solution is known. The option here is to use hybrid‐Trefftz finite elements for this purpose. This option secures a domain integral‐free formulation and endorses the use of super‐sized finite elements as the (hierarchical) Trefftz bases contain relevant physical information on the modeled problem. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A super‐element for crack analysis in the time domain

A super‐element for the dynamic analysis of two‐dimensional crack problems is developed based on the scaled boundary finite‐element method. The boundary of the super‐element containing a crack tip is discretized with line elements. The governing partial differential equations formulated in the scaled boundary co‐ordinates are transformed to ordinary differential equations in the frequency domain by applying the Galerkin's weighted residual technique. The displacements in the radial direction from the crack tip to a point on the boundary are solved analytically without any a priori assumption. The scaled boundary finite‐element formulation leads to symmetric static stiffness and mass matrices. The super‐element can be coupled seamlessly with standard finite elements. The transient response is evaluated directly in the time domain using a standard time‐integration scheme. The stress field, including the singularity around the crack tip, is expressed semi‐analytically. The stress intensity factors are evaluated without directly addressing singular functions, as the limit in their definitions is performed analytically. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Implicit boundary method for analysis using uniform B‐spline basis and structured grid

Several analysis techniques such as extended finite element method (X‐FEM) have been developed recently, which use structured grid for the analysis. Implicit boundary method uses implicit equations of the boundary to apply boundary conditions in X‐FEM framework using structured grids. Solution structures for test and trial functions are constructed using implicit equations such that the boundary conditions are satisfied even if there are no nodes on the boundary. In this paper, this method is applied for analysis using uniform B‐spline basis defined over a structured grid. Solution structures that are C¹ or C² continuous throughout the analysis domain can be constructed using B‐spline basis functions. As a structured grid does not conform to the geometry of the analysis domain, the boundaries of the analysis domain are defined independently using equations of the boundary curves/surfaces. Compared with conforming mesh, it is easier to generate structured grids that overlap the geometry and the elements in the grid are regular shaped and undistorted. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the performance of these B‐spline elements. The results are compared with analytical solutions as well as with traditional finite element solutions. Convergence studies for several examples show that B‐spline elements provide accurate solutions with fewer elements and nodes compared with traditional FEM. They also provide continuous stress and strain in the analysis domain, thus eliminating the need for smoothing stress/strain results. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Efficient solution of time‐domain boundary integral equations arising in sound‐hard scattering

We consider the efficient numerical solution of the three‐dimensional wave equation with Neumann boundary conditions via time‐domain boundary integral equations. A space‐time Galerkin method with C^∞‐smooth, compactly supported basis functions in time and piecewise polynomial basis functions in space is employed. We discuss the structure of the system matrix and its efficient parallel assembly. Different preconditioning strategies for the solution of the arising systems with block Hessenberg matrices are proposed and investigated numerically. Furthermore, a C++ implementation parallelized by OpenMP and MPI in shared and distributed memory, respectively, is presented. The code is part of the boundary element library BEM4I. Results of numerical experiments including convergence and scalability tests up to a thousand cores on a cluster are provided. The presented implementation shows good parallel scalability of the system matrix assembly. Moreover, the proposed algebraic preconditioner in combination with the FGMRES solver leads to a significant reduction of the computational time. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A fast BE‐FE coupling scheme for partly immersed bodies

Fluid–structure coupled problems are investigated to predict the vibro‐acoustic behavior of submerged bodies. The finite element method is applied for the structural part, whereas the boundary element method is used for the fluid domain. The focus of this paper is on partly immersed bodies. The fluid problem is favorably modeled by a half‐space formulation. This way, the Dirichlet boundary condition on the free fluid surface is incorporated by a half‐space fundamental solution. A fast multipole implementation is presented for the half‐space problem. In case of a high density of the fluid, the forces due to the acoustic pressure, which act on the structure, cannot be neglected. Thus, a strong coupling scheme is applied. An iterative solver is used to handle the coupled system. The efficiency of the proposed approach is discussed using a realistic model problem. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A multiscale large time increment/FAS algorithm with time‐space model reduction for frictional contact problems

A multiscale strategy using model reduction for frictional contact computation is presented. This new approach aims to improve computation time of finite element simulations involving frictional contact between linear and elastic bodies. This strategy is based on a combination between the LATIN (LArge Time INcrement) method and the FAS multigrid solver. The LATIN method is an iterative solver operating on the whole time‐space domain. Applying an a posteriori analysis on solutions of different frictional contact problems shows a great potential as far as reducibility for frictional contact problems is concerned. Time‐space vectors forming the so‐called reduced basis depict particular scales of the problem. It becomes easy to make analogies with multigrid method to take full advantage of multiscale information. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A quasi‐interpolation method for solving stiff ordinary differential equations

Based on the idea of quasi‐interpolation and radial basis functions approximation, a numerical method is developed to quasi‐interpolate the forcing term of differential equations by using radial basis functions. A highly accurate approximation for the solution can then be obtained by solving the corresponding fundamental equation and a small size system of equations related to the initial or boundary conditions. This overcomes the ill‐conditioning problem resulting from using the radial basis functions as a global interpolant. Error estimation is given for a particular second‐order stiff differential equation with boundary layer. The result of computations indicates that the method can be applied to solve very stiff problems. With the use of multiquadric, a special class of radial basis functions, it has been shown that a reasonable choice for the optimal shape parameter is obtained by taking the same value of the shape parameter as the perturbed parameter contained in the stiff equation. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Convolution quadrature method‐based symmetric Galerkin boundary element method for 3‐d elastodynamics

The boundary integral equations in 3‐d elastodynamics contain convolution integrals with respect to the time. They can be performed analytically or with the convolution quadrature method. The latter time‐stepping procedure's benefit is the usage of the Laplace‐transformed fundamental solution. Therefore, it is possible to apply this method also to problems where analytical time‐dependent fundamental solutions might not be known. To obtain a symmetric formulation, the second boundary integral equation has to be used which, unfortunately, requires special care in the numerical implementation since it involves hypersingular kernel functions. Therefore, a regularization for closed surfaces of the Laplace‐transformed elastodynamic kernel functions is presented which transforms the bilinear form of the hypersingular integral operator to a weakly singular one. Supplementarily, a weakly singular formulation of the Laplace‐transformed elastodynamic double layer potential is presented. This results in a time domain boundary element formulation involving at least only weakly singular integral kernels. Finally, numerical studies validate this approach with respect to different spatial and time discretizations. Further, a comparison with the wider used collocation method is presented. It is shown numerically that the presented formulation exhibits a good convergence rate and a more stable behavior compared with collocation methods. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Rayleigh wave correction for the BEM analysis of two‐dimensional elastodynamic problems in a half‐space

A simple, elegant approach is proposed to correct the error introduced by the truncation of the infinite boundary in the BEM modelling of two‐dimensional wave propagation problems in elastic half‐spaces. The proposed method exploits the knowledge of the far‐field asymptotic behaviour of the solution to adequately correct the BEM displacement system matrix for the truncated problem to account for the contribution of the omitted part of the boundary. The reciprocal theorem of elastodynamics is used for a convenient computation of this contribution involving the same boundary integrals that form the original BEM system. The method is formulated for a two‐dimensional homogeneous, isotropic, linearly elastic half‐space and its implementation in a frequency domain boundary element scheme is discussed in some detail. The formulation is then validated for a free Rayleigh pulse travelling on a half‐space and successfully tested for a benchmark problem with a known approximation to the analytical solution. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.