THREE-DIMENSIONAL DESIGN SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS USING A BOUNDARY INTEGRAL APPROACH

A general shape design sensitivity analysis approach, different from traditional sensitivity methods is developed for three-dimensional elastostatic problems. The boundary integral design sensitivity formulation is given in order to obtain traction, displacement and equivalent stress sensitivities which are required for design optimization. Those integral equations are derived analytically by differentiation with respect to the normal to the surface at design variable points. Subdivision of boundary elements into sub-elements and rigid body translation methods are employed to deal with singularities that occur during the numerical discretization of the domain. Four different examples are demonstrated to show the accuracy of the method. The boundary integral sensitivity results are compared with the finite difference sensitivity results. Excellent agreement is achieved between the two methods. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A boundary element sensitivity formulation for contact problems using the implicit differentiation method

In this paper a sensitivity formulation using the boundary element method (BEM), for problems involving contact is presented. The proposed formulation is based on the implicit differentiation method (IDM), where the boundary integral equations are differentiated analytically with respect to the design variables. In the proposed formulation the design variables are defined in terms of the normal gap between the contact bodies. The analysis demonstrates that the proposed method is accurate and robust, as it does not resolve the whole system. The proposed method can be used for evaluating the sensitivities in any shape-optimisation problem involving contact.     

Three dimensional boundary formulations for nonlinear thermal shape sensitivities

Implicit differentiation of the discretized boundary integral equations governing the conduction of heat in three dimensional (3D) solid objects, subjected to nonlinear boundary conditions, and with temperature dependent material properties, is shown to generate an accurate and economical approach for the computation of shape sensitivities. The theoretical formulation for primary response (surface temperature and normal heat flux) sensitivities and secondary response (surface tangential heat flux components and internal temperature and heat flux components) sensitivities is given. Iterative strategies are described for the solution of the resulting sets of nonlinear equations and computational performances examined. Multi-zone analysis and zone condensation strategies are demonstrated to provide substantial computational economies in this process for models with either localized nonlinear boundary conditions or regions of geometric insensitivity to design variables. A series of nonlinear sensitivity example problems are presented that have closed form solutions. Sensitivities computed using the boundary formulation are shown to be in excellent agreement with these exact expressions.     

An efficient method to evaluate hypersingular and supersingular integrals in boundary integral equations analysis

An efficient algorithm is employed to evaluated hyper and super singular integral equations encountered in boundary integral equations analysis of engineering problems. The algorithm is based on multiple subtractions and additions to separate singular and regular integral terms in the polar transformation domain, primarily established in Refs. (Guiggiani M, Krishnasamy G, Rudolphi TJ, Rizzo FJ. A general algorithm for the numerical solution of hypersingular boundary integral equations. Trans ASME 1992;59:604–614; Guiggiani M, Casalini P. Direct computation of Cauchy principal value integral in advanced boundary element. Int J Numer Meth Engng 1987;24:1711–1720. Guiggiani M, Gigante A. A general algorithm for multidimensional Cauchy principal value integrals in the boundary element method. J Appl Mech Trans ASME 1990;57:906–915). It can be proved that the regular terms have finite analytical solutions in the range of integration, and the singular terms will be replaced by special periodic kernels in the integral equations. The subtractions involve to multiple derivatives of analytical kernels and the additions require some manipulation to separate the remaining regular terms from singular ones. The regular terms are computed numerically. Three examples on numerical evaluation of singular boundary integrals are presented to show the efficiency and accuracy of the algorithm. In this respect, strongly singular and hypersingular integrals of potential flow problems are considered, followed by a supersingular integral which is extracted from the partial differentiation of a hypersingular integral with respect to the source point.     

A wideband FMBEM for 2D acoustic design sensitivity analysis based on direct differentiation method

This paper presents a wideband fast multipole boundary element method (FMBEM) for two dimensional acoustic design sensitivity analysis based on the direct differentiation method. The wideband fast multipole method (FMM) formed by combining the original FMM and the diagonal form FMM is used to accelerate the matrix-vector products in the boundary element analysis. The Burton–Miller formulation is used to overcome the fictitious frequency problem when using a single Helmholtz boundary integral equation for exterior boundary-value problems. The strongly singular and hypersingular integrals in the sensitivity equations can be evaluated explicitly and directly by using the piecewise constant discretization. The iterative solver GMRES is applied to accelerate the solution of the linear system of equations. A set of optimal parameters for the wideband FMBEM design sensitivity analysis are obtained by observing the performances of the wideband FMM algorithm in terms of computing time and memory usage. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the efficiency and validity of the proposed algorithm.     

Boundary formulations for shape sensitivity of temperature dependent conductivity problems

Used in concert with the Kirchhoff transformation, implicit differentiation of the discretized boundary integral equations governing the conduction of heat in solids with temperature dependent thermal conductivity is shown to generate an accurate and economical approach for computation of shape sensitivities. For problems with specified temperature and heat flux boundary conditions, a linear problem results for both the analysis and sensitivity analysis. In problems with either convection or radiation boundary conditions, a non-linear problem is generated. Several iterative strategies are presented for the solution of the resulting sets of non-linear equations and the computational performances examined in detail. Multi-zone analysis and zone condensation strategies are demonstrated to provide substantive computational economies in this process for models with either localized non-iinear boundary conditions or regions of geometric insensitivity to design variables. A series of non-linear example problems is presented that have closed form solutions. Exact anaytical expressions tor the shape sensitivities associated with these problems are developed and these are compared with the sensitivities computed using the boundary element formulation.     

Implementation of regularized isogeometric boundary element methods for gradient‐based shape optimization in two‐dimensional linear elasticity

The present work addresses shape sensitivity analysis and optimization in two‐dimensional elasticity with a regularized isogeometric boundary element method (IGABEM). Non‐uniform rational B‐splines are used both for the geometry and the basis functions to discretize the regularized boundary integral equations. With the advantage of tight integration of design and analysis, the application of IGABEM in shape optimization reduces the mesh generation/regeneration burden greatly. The work is distinct from the previous literatures in IGABEM shape optimization mainly in two aspects: (1) the structural and sensitivity analysis takes advantage of the regularized form of the boundary integral equations, eliminating completely the need of evaluating strongly singular integrals and jump terms and their shape derivatives, which were the main implementation difficulty in IGABEM, and (2) although based on the same Computer Aided Design (CAD) model, the mesh for structural and shape sensitivity analysis is separated from the geometrical design mesh, thus achieving a balance between less design variables for efficiency and refined mesh for accuracy. This technique was initially used in isogeometric finite element method and was incorporated into the present IGABEM implementation. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hyper-singular boundary element method for elastoplastic fracture mechanics analysis with large deformation

In this paper a two-dimensional hyper-singular boundary element method for elastoplastic fracture mechanics analysis with large deformation is presented. The proposed approach incorporates displacement and the traction boundary integral equations as well as finite deformation stress measures, and general crack problems can be solved with single-region formulations. Efficient regularization techniques are applied to the corresponding singular terms in displacement, displacement derivatives and traction boundary integral equations, according to the degree of singularity of the kernel functions. Within the numerical implementation of the hyper-singular boundary element formulation, crack tip and corners are modelled with discontinuous elements. Fracture measures are evaluated at each load increment, using the J-integral. Several cases studies with different boundary and loading conditions have been analysed. It has been shown that the new singularity removal technique and the non-linear elastoplastic formulation lead to accurate solutions.     

Explicit evaluation of hypersingular boundary integral equations for acoustic sensitivity analysis based on direct differentiation method

This paper presents a new set of boundary integral equations for three dimensional acoustic shape sensitivity analysis based on the direct differentiation method. A linear combination of the derived equations is used to avoid the fictitious eigenfrequency problem associated with the conventional boundary integral equation method when solving exterior acoustic problems. The strongly singular and hypersingular boundary integrals contained in the equations are evaluated as the Cauchy principal values and Hadamard finite parts for constant element discretization without using any regularization technique in this study. The present boundary integral equations are more efficient to use than the usual ones based on any other singularity subtraction technique and can be applied to the fast multipole boundary element method more readily and efficiently. The effectiveness and accuracy of the present equations are demonstrated through some numerical examples.     

A BEM sensitivity and shape identification analysis for acoustic scattering in fluid–solid problems

In this paper a boundary element formulation for the sensitivity analysis of structures immersed in an inviscide fluid and illuminated by harmonic incident plane waves is presented. Also presented is the sensitivity analysis coupled with an optimization procedure for analyses of flaw identification problems. The formulation developed utilizes the boundary integral equation of the Helmholtz equation for the external problem and the Cauchy–Navier equation for the internal elastic problem. The sensitivities are obtained by the implicit differentiation technique. Examples are presented to demonstrate the accuracy of the proposed formulations. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Internal stresses in inelastic BEM using complex-variable differentiation

 A new approach is proposed for nonlinear boundary element methods in computing internal stresses accurately using a complex-variable formulation. In this approach, the internal stresses are obtained from the numerical derivatives of the displacement integral equations that involve only weakly singular integrals. The collocation points in the displacement integral equations are defined as complex variables whose imaginary part is a small step size for numerical derivatives. Unlike the finite difference method whose solution accuracy is step-size dependent, the complex-variable technique can provide “numerically-exact” derivatives of complicated functions, which is step-size independent in the small asymptotic limit. Meanwhile, it also circumvents the tedious analytical differentiation in the process. Consequently, the evaluation of the nonlinear stress increment only deals with kernels no more singular than that of the displacement increment. In addition, this technique can yield more accurate stresses for nodes that are near the boundary. Three examples are presented to demonstrate the robustness of this method. Received 9 March 2001     

Shape design sensitivity analysis via material derivative-adjoint variable technique for 3-D and 2-D curved boundary elements

A general approach to shape design sensitivity analysis of three- and two-dimensional elastic solid objects is developed using the material derivative-adjoint variable technique and boundary element method. The formulation of the problem is general and first-order sensitivities in the form of boundary integrals for the effect of boundary shape variations are derived for an arbitrary performance functional. Second-order quadrilateral surface elements (for 3-D problems) and quadratic boundary elements (for 2-D problems) are employed in the solution of primary and adjoint systems and discretization of the boundary integral expressions for sensitivities. The accuracy of sensitivity information is studied for selected global performance functionals and also for boundary state fields at discrete points. Numerical results are presented to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of this approach.     

SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS FORMULATION FOR THREE-DIMENSIONAL CONDUCTION HEAT TRANSFER WITH COMPLEX GEOMETRIES USING A BOUNDARY ELEMENT METHOD

A special boundary integral formulation had been proposed to analyse many engineering problems of conduction heat transfer in complex three-dimensional geometries (closely spaced surface and circular hole in infinite domain or simple modification of it) by Rezayat and Burton. One example of such geometries is the mold sets in the injection molding process. In this paper, an efficient and accurate approach for the design sensitivity analysis (DSA) is presented for these kinds of problems in the similar complex geometries using the direct differentiation approach (DDA) based on the above special boundary integral formulation. The present approach utilizes the implicit differentiation of the boundary integral equations with respect to the design variables (radii and locations of circular holes) to yield the sensitivity equations. A sample problem (heat transfer of injection molding cooling system) is solved to demonstrate the accuracy of the present sensitivity analysis formulation. Although the techniques introduced here are applied to a particular problem in heat transfer of injection molding cooling system, their potential application is quite broad.     

Dual boundary‐element method: Simple error estimator and adaptivity

This paper is concerned with the effective numerical implementation of the adaptive dual boundary‐element method (DBEM), for two‐dimensional potential problems. Two boundary integral equations, which are the potential and the flux equations, are applied for collocation along regular and degenerate boundaries, leading always to a single‐region analysis. Taking advantage on the use of non‐conforming parametric boundary‐elements, the method introduces a simple error estimator, based on the discontinuity of the solution across the boundaries between adjacent elements and implements the p, h and mixed versions of the adaptive mesh refinement. Examples of several geometries, which include degenerate boundaries, are analyzed with this new formulation to solve regular and singular problems. The accuracy and efficiency of the implementation described herein make this a reliable formulation of the adaptive DBEM. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A boundary element formulation for design sensitivities in materially nonlinear problems

Summary This paper presents a formulation for the determination of design sensitivities for shape optimization in materially nonlinear problems. This approach is based on direct differentiation (DDA) of the relevant boundary element method (BEM) formulation of the problem. It combines the accuracy advantages of the BEM without the difficulty of dealing with strongly singular kernels. This approach provides a new avenue towards efficient shape optimization of small strain elastic-viscoplastic and elastic-plastic problems.With 1 Figure     

Biharmonic analysis of rectilinear plates by the boundary element method

An improved boundary element formulation (BEM) for two-dimensional non-homogeneous biharmonic analysis of rectilinear plates is presented. A boundary element formulation is developed from a coupled set of Poisson-type boundary integral equations derived from the governing non-homogeneous biharmonic equation. Emphasis is given to the development of exact expressions for the piecewise rectilinear boundary integration of the fundamental solution and its derivatives over several types of isoparametric elements. Incorporation of the explicit form of the integrations into the boundary element formulation improves the computational accuracy of the solution by substantially eliminating the error introduced by numerical quadrature, particularly those errors encountered near singularities. In addition, the single iterative nature of the exact calculations reduces the time necessary to compile the boundary system matrices and also provides a more rapid evaluation of internal point values than do formulations using regular numerical quadrature techniques. The evaluation of the domain integrations associated with biharmonic forms of the non-homogeneous terms of the governing equation are transformed to an equivalent set of boundary integrals. Transformations of this type are introduced to avoid the difficulties of domain integration. The resulting set of boundary integrals describing the domain contribution is generally evaluated numerically; however, some exact expressions for several commonly encountered non-homogeneous terms are used. Several numerical solutions of the deflection of rectilinear plates using the boundary element method (BEM) are presented and compared to existing numerical or exact solutions.     

A note on true desingularisation of boundary integral methods for three-dimensional potential problems

A desingularized boundary element formulation for the three-dimensional potential problem will be presented. It is based on integral identities for the fundamental solution. The shown approach has the advantage that the singular terms on both influence matrices can be directly calculated by replacing it with a special summation of the other off-diagonal elements. It is an extension of the so-called 4π rule in which the strongest singularity is removed by replacing the terms of one of the influence matrices by 4π minus the sum of the off-diagonal terms of the same row. It is shown here that a similar method can also be applied to the weakest singularity, thereby completely desingularizing the method. Both integral equations and their corresponding matrix–vector notation will be presented.     

On the method of functional equations and the performance of desingularized boundary element methods

A correspondence is made between the reciprocal relation for linear elliptic partial differential equations and the Riesz integral representation. The former relates the boundary distributions and appropriate normal fluxes of two arbitrary solutions, and the latter expresses a continuous linear functional in terms of an integral involving a representing function. When sufficient regularity conditions are met, the representing function is identified with the unknown boundary distribution. In principle, the representing function may be expressed in terms of the images of a complete set of orthonormal basis functions with known normal fluxes, as suggested by Kupradze [Kupradze VD. On the approximate solution of problems in mathematical physics. Russ Math Surv 1967; 22: 59–107]; in practice, the representing function is computed by solving integral equations using boundary element methods. The basic procedure involves expressing the representing function in terms of finite-element or other basis functions, and requiring the satisfaction of the reciprocal relationship with a suitable set of test functions such as Green's functions and their dipoles. When the singular points are placed at the boundary, we obtain the standard boundary integral equation method. When the singular points are placed outside the domain of solution, we obtain a system of functional equations and associated class of desingularized boundary integral methods. When sufficient regularity conditions are met and the test functions comprise a complete set, then in the limit of infinite discretization the numerical solution converges to the unknown boundary distribution. An overview of formulations is presented with reference to Laplace's equation in two dimensions. Numerical experimentation shows that, in general, the solution obtained by desingularized methods becomes increasingly less accurate as the singular points of Green's functions move farther away from the boundary, but the loss of accuracy is significant only when the exact solution shows pronounced variations. Exceptions occur when the integral equation does not have a unique solution. In contrast, and in agreement with previous findings, the condition number of the linear system increases rapidly with the distance of the singular points from the boundary, to the extent that a dependable solution cannot be obtained when the singularities are located even a moderate distance away from the boundary. The desingularized formulation based on Green's function dipoles is superior in accuracy and reliability to the one that uses Green functions. The implementation of the method to the equations of elastostatics and Stokes flow are also discussed.     

Material constant sensitivity boundary integral equation for anisotropic solids

In this paper, the material constant sensitivity boundary integral equation is presented, and its numerical solution proposed, based on boundary element techniques. The formulation deals with plane problems with general rectilinear anisotropy. Expressions for the computation of sensitivities for displacements, tractions, strains and stresses are derived, both for boundary and interior points. The sensitivities can be computed with respect to the bulk material properties or to the properties of part of the domain (inclusions, coatings, etc.). To assess the accuracy of the proposed approach, the computed results are compared to analytical ones derived from exact solutions obtained by complex potential theory, when possible, or finite difference derivatives otherwise. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Boundary elements in shape design sensitivity analysis and optimal design of vibrating structures

A general approach to shape design sensitivity analysis and optimal design for dynamic transient and free vibrations problems using boundary elements is presented. The material derivatives and the adjoint system method are applied to obtain first-order sensitivities for the effect of boundary shape variations. A numerical example of shape sensitivity analysis and optimal design for free vibrations of an elastic body is presented.