Finite element treatment of soft elastohydrodynamic lubrication problems in the finite deformation regime

Soft elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) problem is studied for a reciprocating elastomeric seal with full account of finite configuration changes. The fluid part is described by the Reynolds equation which is formulated on the deformed boundary of the seal treated as a hyperelastic body. The paper is concerned with the finite element (FE) treatment of this soft EHL problem. Displacement-based FE discretization is applied for the solid part. The Reynolds equation is discretized using the FE method or, alternatively, the discontinuous Galerkin method, both employing higher-order interpolation of pressure. The performance of both methods is assessed by studying convergence and stability of the solution for a benchmark problem of an O-ring seal. It is shown that the solution may exhibit spurious oscillations which occur in severe lubrication conditions. Mesh refinement results in reduction of these oscillations, while increasing the pressure interpolation order or application of the discontinuous Galerkin method does not help significantly.     

A finite element analysis for time-dependent problems

The finite element method is applied to dynamic linear viscoelastic analysis. The arising system of differential equations is integrated by means of the Laplace transformation. The direct numerical evaluation of the inversion integral seems to be appropriate in case of vibrational problems. The method is applied to examples of transient vibrations of elastic bodies. Initial conditions and arbitrary damping matrices can be considered.     

Applications of the hybrid finite element-boundary element methodin electromagnetics

The concept of combining the finite-element method with the boundary-element method for electromagnetic problems is introduced. The general equations are derived, and examples are given for a number of two- and three-dimensional cases. These include both static and time-varying problems     

A computational homogenization framework for soft elastohydrodynamic lubrication

The interaction between microscopically rough surfaces and hydrodynamic thin film lubrication is investigated under the assumption of finite deformations. Within a coupled micro–macro analysis setting, the influence of roughness onto the macroscopic scale is determined using FE ²-type homogenization techniques to reduce the overall computational cost. Exact to within a separation of scales assumption, a computationally efficient two-phase micromechanical test is proposed to identify the macroscopic interface fluid flux from a lubrication analysis performed on the deformed configuration of a representative surface element. Parameter studies show a strong influence of both roughness and surface deformation on the macroscopic response for isotropic and anisotropic surfacial microstructures.     

地铁振动预测的周期性有限元-边界元耦合模型

针对地铁列车运行引起的隧道结构和自由场中的振动响应问题,提出了一个在频率-波数域内的三维周期性有限元-边界元耦合的数值模型,此模型中隧道结构采用有限元法计算,自由场采用边界元法模拟.此模型采用Floquet变换,利用隧道和自由场在隧道轴线方向上的周期性,把无限长的隧道及自由场的网格划分限制在一个基本元内,这样使动力学数值计算的效率大大提高.利用此模型计算了在隧道底板上施加固定单位谐振荷载情况下隧道一自由场相互作用系统的动力响应,结果表明此模型可应用于地铁列车运行引起的隧道和自由场中的动力响应预测.     

Finite element method for mixed elastohydrodynamic lubrication of journal‐bearing systems

A finite element model is presented for mixed lubrication of journal‐bearing systems operating in adverse conditions. The asperity effects on contact and lubrication at large eccentricity ratios are modelled. The elastic deformation due to both hydrodynamic and contact pressure, and the cavitation of the lubricant film are considered in the model system. Two verification problems with both theoretical and experimental comparisons are given to show the effectiveness of this model. Finally, a new example is presented which discusses the influence of waviness depth, secondary roughness, external force and shaft speed on the mixed lubrication. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A temperature-based formulation for finite element analysis of generalized phase-change problems

A finite element formulation for solving multidimensional phase-change problems is presented. The formulation considers the temperature as the unique state variable, it is conservative in the weak form sense and it preserves the moving interface condition. In this work, an approximate jacobian matrix that preserves numerical convergence and stability is also derived. Furthermore, a comparative analysis with other different phase-change finite element techniques is performed. Finally, several numerical examples are analysed in order to show the performance of the proposed methodology.     

A mixed finite element formulation for non-linear analysis of plane problems

Based on the incremental non-linear theory of solid bodies and the Hellinger-Reissncr principle, a mixed updated Lagrangian formulation of the large displacement motion of solid bodies is derived, and an associated mixed finite element model is developed. The model contains the displacements and stresses as the nodal degrees of freedom. The model is used for the large deformation elasto-plastic analysis of plane problems. In solving non-linear problems, the Newton-Raphson method with arc-length control is adopted to trace the post-buckling response. The computational steps to calculate the elasto-plastic stress increments at Gauss points in the elasto-plastic analysis by the present mixed model are described in detail. Numerical results are presented and compared with those of the displacement model and existing solutions to show the accuracy of the present mixed model in the large deformation elasto-plastic analysis of plane problems.     

A finite element method for non-self-adjoint problems

This paper presents a general theory and application of the finite element method for some special class of non-self-adjoint problems. The formulation employed here is based on the Galerkin method for linear boundary value and eigenvalue problems described by the partial differential equations of elliptic type, and it can be regarded as an extension of the usual displacement method formulated by the use of the principle of minimum potential energy. In order to illustrate its validity and feasibility, the method is applied to the problems of the two-group neutron diffusion equations and of the stability of a non-conservative system.     

A new finite element technique for the analysis of steady viscous flow problems

A new finite element technique for two-dimensional viscous incompressible fluid flow problems is presented in this paper. The vorticity transport equation is integrated in a small control volume, which results in the conservation law of vorticity. The finite element technique is applied to this equation together with the continuity equation, where simple linear triangular elements with three nodes are used for the formulation. Resulting sets of algebraic equations are solved by the use of a kind of relaxation method. Numerical results for viscous flow past a cavity show good agreement with experimental results.     

A finite element method for stability problems in finite elasticity

In this paper a finite element method is developed to treat stability problems in finite elasticity. For this purpose the constitutive equations are formulated in principal stretches which allows a general representation of the derivatives of the strain energy function with respect to the principal stretches. These results can then be used to derive an efficient numerical scheme for the computation of singular points.     

A deforming finite element method analysis of inverse Stefan problems

A deforming FEM (DFEM) analysis of one-dimensional inverse Stefan problems is presented. Specifically, the problem of calculating the position and velocity of the moving interface from the temperature measurements of two or more sensors located inside the solid phase is addressed. Since the interface velocity is considered to be the primary variable of the problem, the DFEM formulation is found to have many advantages over other traditional front tracking methods. The present inverse formulation is based on a minimization of the error between the calculated and measured temperatures, utilizing future temperature data to calculate current values of the unknown parameters. Also, the use of regularization is found to be useful in obtaining more accurate results, especially when the interface is located far away from the sensors. The method is illustrated with several examples. The effects of the location of the sensors, of the error in the sensor measurements and of several computational parameters were examined.     

Collocation-based stochastic finite element analysis for random field problems

A stochastic response surface method (SRSM) which has been previously proposed for problems dealing only with random variables is extended in this paper for problems in which physical properties exhibit spatial random variation and may be modeled as random fields. The formalism of the extended SRSM is similar to the spectral stochastic finite element method (SSFEM) in the sense that both of them utilize Karhunen–Loeve (K–L) expansion to represent the input, and polynomial chaos expansion to represent the output. However, the coefficients in the polynomial chaos expansion are calculated using a probabilistic collocation approach in SRSM. This strategy helps us to decouple the finite element and stochastic computations, and the finite element code can be treated as a black box, as in the case of a commercial code. The collocation-based SRSM approach is compared in this paper with an existing analytical SSFEM approach, which uses a Galerkin-based weighted residual formulation, and with a black-box SSFEM approach, which uses Latin Hypercube sampling for the design of experiments. Numerical examples are used to illustrate the features of the extended SRSM and to compare its efficiency and accuracy with the existing analytical and black-box versions of SSFEM.     

A temperature-based finite element solution for phase-change problems

A finite element procedure for solving multidimensional phase change problems is described. The algorithm combines a temperature formulation with a finite element treatment of the differential equation and discontinuous integration within the two-phase elements to avoid the necessity of regularization. A new criterion for the computation of the iteration matrix is proposed. It is based on a quasi-Newton correction of the Jacobian matrix for conduction problems without change of phase. A set of test problems with exact solution is analysed and demonstrates that the procedure can accurately evaluate the front position and temperature history with a reasonable computational effort.     

Adaptive finite element methods for hydrodynamic lubrication with cavitation

We present an adaptive finite element method for a cavitation model based on Reynolds' equation. A posteriori error estimates and adaptive algorithms are discussed, and numerical examples illustrating the theory are supplied. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A mixed finite element formulation for plate problems

A mixed triangular finite element model has been developed for plate bending problems in which effects of shear deformation are included. Linear distribution for all variables is assumed and the matrix equation is obtained through Reissner's variational principle. In this model, interelement compatibility is completely satisfied whereas the governing equations within the element are satisfied ‘in the mean’. A detailed error analysis is made and convergence of the scheme is proved. Numerical examples of thin and moderately thick plates are presented.     

A Lagrangian finite element approach for the analysis of fluid–structure interaction problems

A Lagrangian finite element method for the analysis of incompressible Newtonian fluid flows, based on a continuous re‐triangulation of the domain in the spirit of the so‐called Particle Finite Element Method, is here revisited and applied to the analysis of the fluid phase in fluid–structure interaction problems. A new approach for the tracking of the interfaces between fluids and structures is proposed. Special attention is devoted to the mass conservation problem. It is shown that, despite its Lagrangian nature, the proposed combined finite element‐particle method is well suited for large deformation fluid–structure interaction problems with evolving free surfaces and breaking waves. The method is validated against the available analytical and numerical benchmarks. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Application of finite element methods to thermohydrodynamic lubrication

A finite element formulation is presented for the equations governing the steady thermohydrodynamic behaviour of liquid lubricated bearings. This formulation permits application of the iterative solution scheme to bearings of arbitrary geometry. A generalized Reynolds equation resulting from the combination of the mass and momentum conservation equations is cast into variational form and used to derive general finite element equations. The method of weighted residuals with Galerkin's criterion is used to generate finite element matrix equations for the thermal energy equation. In addition to the finite element formulation, a discussion of appropriate finite difference techniques is also given for problems without complex geometry. As an example, the formulations are applied to obtain numerical solutions for a three-dimensional sector thrust bearing operating in the thermohydrodynamic regime. Pressure, velocity and temperature distributions are give, and the thermohydrodynamic solutions are compared with the results of classical isothermal theory.     

A least squares finite element formulation for elastodynamic problems

A residual finite element formulation is developed in this paper to solve elastodynamic problems in which body wave potentials are primary unknowns. The formulation is based on minimizing the square of the residuals of governing equations as well as all boundary conditions. Since the boundary conditions in terms of wave potentials are neither Dirichlet nor Neumann type it is difficult to construct a functional to satisfy all governing equations and boundary conditions following the variational principle designed for conventional finite element formulation. That is why the least squares technique is sought. All boundary conditions are included in the functional expression so that the satisfaction of any boundary condition does not become a requirement of the trial functions, but they should satisfy some continuity conditions across the interelement boundary to guarantee proper convergence. In this paper it is demonstrated that the technique works well for elastodynamic problems; however, it is equally applicable to any other field problem.     

A stochastic finite element method for real eigenvalue problems

A stochastic finite element method (SFEM) based on local averages of a random vector field is developed for both distinct and repeated eigenvalues. Formulae for the variances and covariances of the eigenvalues and eigenvectors are derived. It is shown in a numerical example that, as the number of elements increases, solutions obtained from the present SFEM formulation converge much faster than those obtained from the SFEM formulation based on mid-point discretization.