GPU-accelerated indirect boundary element method for voxel model analyses with fast multipole method

An indirect boundary element method (BEM) that uses the fast multipole method (FMM) was accelerated using graphics processing units (GPUs) to reduce the time required to calculate a three-dimensional electrostatic field. The BEM is designed to handle cubic voxel models and is specialized to consider square voxel walls as boundary surface elements. The FMM handles the interactions among the surface charge elements and directly outputs surface integrals of the fields over each individual element. The CPU code was originally developed for field analysis in human voxel models derived from anatomical images. FMM processes are programmed using the NVIDIA Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) with double-precision floating-point arithmetic on the basis of a shared pseudocode template. The electric field induced by DC-current application between two electrodes is calculated for two models with 499,629 (model 1) and 1,458,813 (model 2) surface elements. The calculation times were measured with a four-GPU configuration (two NVIDIA GTX295 cards) with four CPU cores (an Intel Core i7-975 processor). The times required by a linear system solver are 31 s and 186 s for models 1 and 2, respectively. The speed-up ratios of the FMM range from 5.9 to 8.2 for model 1 and from 5.0 to 5.6 for model 2. The calculation speed for element-interaction in this BEM analysis was comparable to that of particle-interaction using FMM on a GPU.     

An efficient algebraic multigrid preconditioner for a fast multipole boundary element method

Fast boundary element methods still need good preconditioning techniques for an almost optimal complexity. An algebraic multigrid method is presented for the single layer potential using the fast multipole method. The coarsening is based on the cluster structure of the fast multipole method. The effort for the construction of the nearfield part of the coarse grid matrices and for an application of the multigrid preconditioner is of the same almost optimal order as the fast multipole method itself.     

A p-adaptive three dimensional boundary element method for elastostatic problems using quasi-Lagrange interpolation

An adaptive method for the determination of the order of element (or element order) was developed for the boundary element analysis of 3D elastostatic problems using quasi-Lagrange interpolation. Here the order of element means the highest order of polynomial function, which interpolates the displacement distribution in element. This method was based on acquiring the desired accuracy for each boundary element. From the numerical experiments, the relation ξ=k(1/p)^β was deduced, where ξ is the error of the result of the boundary element analysis relative to the exact value, p is the order of element, and k and β are constants.Applying this relation to the two results of computations with different orders of element, the order of element for the third computation was deduced. A computer program using this adaptive determination method for the order of element was developed and applied to several 3D elastostatic problems of various shapes. The usefulness of the method was illustrated by these application results.     

Applications of a fast multipole Galerkin in boundary element method in linear elastostatics

Abstact Boundary element methods provide a powerful tool for solving boundary value problems of linear elastostatics, especially in complicated three–dimensional structures. In contrast to the standard Galerkin approach leading to dense stiffness matrices, in fast boundary element methods such as the fast multipole method the application of matrix–vector products can be realized with almost linear complexity. Since all boundary integral operators of linear elastostatics can be reduced to those of the Laplacian, the discretization of the corresponding single and double layer potentials of the Laplace operator has to be employed only. This technique results in a fast multipole method which is an efficient tool for the simulation of elastic stress fields in engineering and industrial applications. This work has been supported by the German Research Foundation DFG under the Grant SFB 404 Multifield Problems in Continuum Mechanics. Dedicated to George C. Hsiao on the occasion of his 70th birthday.     

基于快速多极边界元法的沥青混凝土弹性模量预测

由于对沥青混凝土材料的研究无论是试验法还是经验法均建立在宏观层面上,无法与其细观结构建立本质的联系,因此利用快速多极边界元法(Fast Multipole Boundary Element Method,FMBEM),结合数字图像处理技术,实现沥青混凝土二维几何建模及弹性模量预测.通过数字图像处理技术识别拍摄得到的原始...     

A new numerical algorithm for 2D moving boundary problems using a boundary element method

Phase change problems are of practical importance and can be found in a wide range of engineering applications. In the present paper, two proposed numerical algorithms are developed; the first one is general for phase change problems, while the second one is for ablation problems. The boundary elements method is used as a mathematical tool in conjunction with the proposed algorithms. Two test examples were solved and the results agree with the physics of the problems.     

A fast boundary element method for the two-dimensional Helmholtz Equation

In this paper, we present a fast method for solving boundary integral equations arising from the exterior Dirichlet problem for the two-dimensional Helmholtz equation. This method combines a quadrature method for discretizing the boundary integral equations with a preconditioned iterative method for solving the resulting dense, nonsymmetric linear systems. Using this method, a polynomial rate of convergence can be obtained by performing a finite number of iterations, which yields high computational efficiency. Various numerical examples are presented.     

A novel finite element method for two-point boundary value problems

A finite element method is presented for solving boundary value problems for ordinary differential equations in which the general solution of the differential equation is computed first, followed by a selection procedure for the particular solution of the boundary value problem from the general solution. In this method, the discrete representation of the differential equation is a singular matrix equation, which is solved by using generalized matrix inversion. The technique is applied to both linear and nonlinear boundary value problems and to boundary value problems requiring eigenvalue evaluation. The solution of several examples involving different types of two-point boundary value problems is presented.     

A rigorous comparison of the Ewald method and the fast multipole method in two dimensions

The most efficient and proper standard method for simulating charged or dipolar systems is the Ewald method, which asymptotically scales as where N is the number of charges. However, recently the “fast multipole method” (FMM) which scales linearly with N has been developed. The break-even of the two methods (that is, the value of N below which Ewald is faster and above which FMM is faster) is very sensitive to the way the methods are optimized and implemented and to the required simulation accuracy.In this paper we use theoretical estimates and simulation results for the accuracies to carefully compare the two methods with respect to speed. We have developed and implemented highly efficient algorithms for both methods for a serial computer (a SPARCstation ELC) as well as a parallel computer (a T800 transputer based MEIKO computer). Breakevens in the range between N = 10 000 and N = 30 000 were found for reasonable values of the average accuracies found in our simulations. Furthermore, we illustrate how huge but rare single charge pair errors in the FMM inflate the error for some of the charges.     

A fast interative method for solving regularized parameter identification problems in elliptic boundary value problems

We study the regularization method applied to the numerical identification of the diffusion coefficienta(x) within a linear two-point boundary value problem of 2nd order. For solving the corresponding regularized discrete nonlinear minimization problems the Gauss-Newton method is analyzed. We describe an effective way for performing one iteration step which requires to solve only two tridiagonal systems of equations.     

A complex variable boundary element method for a class of boundary value problems in anisotropic thermoelasticity

A boundary element method based on the Cauchy's integral formulae, called the complex variable boundary element method (CVBEM), is proposed for the numerical solution of boundary value problems governing plane thermoelastic deformations of anisotropic elastic bodies. The method is applicable for a wide class of problems which do not involve inertia or coupling effects and can be easily and efficiently implemented on the computer. It is applied to solve specific test problems.     

A new numerical method for singularly perturbed turning point problems with two boundary layers based on reproducing kernel method

In this paper, a simple numerical method is proposed for solving singularly perturbed boundary layers problems exhibiting twin boundary layers. The method avoids the choice of fitted meshes. Firstly the original problem is transformed into a new boundary value problem whose solution does not change rapidly by a proper variable transformation; then the transformed problem is solved by using the reproducing kernel method. Two numerical examples are given to show the effectiveness of the present method.     

A new method for solving boundary value problems for partial differential equations

This paper proposes a symmetry–iteration hybrid algorithm for solving boundary value problems for partial differential equations. First, the multi-parameter symmetry is used to reduce the problem studied to a simpler initial value problem for ordinary differential equations. Then the variational iteration method is employed to obtain its solution. The results reveal that the proposed method is very effective and can be applied for other nonlinear problems.     

The hp-version of the boundary element method for Helmholtz screen problems

We study the boundary element method for weakly singular and hypersingular integral equations of the first kind on screens resulting from the Dirichlet and Neumann problems for the Helmholtz equation. It is shown that the hp-version with geometrical refined meshes converges exponentially fast in both cases. We underline our theoretical results by numerical experiments for the pure h-, p-versions, the graded mesh and the hp-version with geometrically refined mesh.     

A Matlab library for solving quasi-static volume conduction problems using the boundary element method

The boundary element method (BEM) is commonly used in the modeling of bioelectromagnetic phenomena. The Matlab language is increasingly popular among students and researchers, but there is no free, easy-to-use Matlab library for boundary element computations. We present a hands-on, freely available Matlab BEM source code for solving bioelectromagnetic volume conduction problems and any (quasi-)static potential problems that obey the Laplace equation. The basic principle of the BEM is presented and discretization of the surface integral equation for electric potential is worked through in detail. Contents and design of the library are described, and results of example computations in spherical volume conductors are validated against analytical solutions. Three application examples are also presented. Further information, source code for application examples, and information on obtaining the library are available in the WWW-page of the library: (http://biomed.tkk.fi/BEM).     

A new superconvergent method for systems of nonlinear singular boundary value problems

A new superconvergent method based on a sextic spline is described and analysed for the solution of systems of nonlinear singular two-point boundary value problems (BVPs). It is well known that the optimal orders of convergence could not be achieved using standard formulation of a sextic spline for the solution of BVPs. Based on the method used in our earlier research papers [J. Rashidinia and M. Ghasemi, B-spline collocation for solution of two-point boundary value problems, J. Comput. Appl. Math. 235 (2011), pp. 2325–2342; J. Rashidinia, M. Ghasemi, and R. Jalilian, An o(h ⁶) numerical solution of general nonlinear fifth-order two point boundary value problems, Numer. Algorithms 55(4) (2010), pp. 403–428], we construct a new O(h ⁸) locally superconvergent method for the solution of general nonlinear two-point BVPs up to order 6. The error bounds and the convergence properties of the method have been proved theoretically. Then, the method is extended to solve the system of nonlinear two-point BVPs. Some test problems are given to demonstrate the applicability and the superconvergent properties of the proposed method numerically. It is shown that the method is very efficient and applicable for stiff BVPs too.     

A numerical method for boundary value problems

This paper demonstrates the utility, generality and simplicity of a computational method of solving systems of ordinary differential equations. The central idea of the method revolves around the ability to generate a numerical approximation of the general solution of systems of linear differential equations. The idea of obtaining a numerical approximation to the general solution leads to changes in the traditional approaches for solving boundary value problems. The method is extended to nonlinear boundary value problems and to boundary value problems with a boundary condition given at infinity. The estimation of unknown parameters in a dynamical system is also treated.     

A sixth order method for the integration of two point boundary value problems

A finite difference method for obtaining sixth order accurate approximation to the solution of the two-point linear boundary value problem is given. The convergence of the method is proved. Numerical results for a typical problem are tabulated and in each case the observed error is compared with its theoretical estimate. The numerical results are compared with those obtained from an earlier method of the author and the method of Noumerov.     

A new method for the coupling of finite element and boundary element discretized subdomains of elastic bodies

A new and efficient approach for the coupling of subregions of elastic solids discretized by means of finite elements (FE) and boundary elements (BE), respectively, is presented. The method is characterized by so-called ‘bi-condensation’ of nodal degrees of freedom followed by the transformation of the resulting BEM-related traction-displacement equations for the interface(s) of the BE subregion(s) and the FE subdomain(s) to ‘FEM-like’ force-displacement relations which are assembled with the FEM-related force-displacement equations for the interface(s). The presented ‘local FE coupling approach’ is computationally more economic than a global coupling approach since it only requires the inversion of BEM-related coefficient matrices referred to the interfaces of BE subregions and FE subdomains. Depending on whether the principle of virtual displacements or the principle of minimum of potential energy is used for the generation of force-displacement equations for the coupling interface(s), unsymmetric or symmetric coefficient matrices are obtained. Since the two principles are mechanically equivalent, identical results would be achieved in the limit of finite discretizations.The numerical investigation has shown that, depending on the problem and the discretization, the results obtained on the basis of symmetric coefficient matrices may be poor. This applies to ‘edge problems’ characterized by discontinuous tractions along the edges. On the basis of unsymmetric coefficient matrices, however, satisfactory results are obtained even for relatively coarse discretizations.