A SPACE–TIME FINITE ELEMENT METHOD FOR THE EXTERIOR STRUCTURAL ACOUSTICS PROBLEM: TIME-DEPENDENT RADIATION BOUNDARY CONDITIONS IN TWO SPACE DIMENSIONS

A time-discontinuous Galerkin space–time finite element method is formulated for the exterior structural acoustics problem in two space dimensions. The problem is posed over a bounded computational domain with local time-dependent radiation (absorbing) boundary conditions applied to the fluid truncation boundary. Absorbing boundary conditions are incorporated as ‘natural’ boundary conditions in the space–time variational equation, i.e. they are enforced weakly in both space and time. Following Bayliss and Turkel, time-dependent radiation boundary conditions for the two-dimensional wave equation are developed from an asymptotic approximation to the exact solution in the frequency domain expressed in negative powers of a non-dimensional wavenumber. In this paper, we undertake a brief development of the time-dependent radiation boundary conditions, establishing their relationship to the exact impedance (Dirichlet-to-Neumann map) for the acoustic fluid, and characterize their accuracy when implemented in our space–time finite element formulation for transient structural acoustics. Stability estimates are reported together with an analysis of the positive form of the matrix problem emanating from the space–time variational equations for the coupled fluid-structure system. Several numerical simulations of transient radiation and scattering in two space dimensions are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the space–time method.     

The meshless Galerkin boundary node method for Stokes problems in three dimensions

The Galerkin boundary node method (GBNM) is a boundary only meshless method that combines an equivalent variational formulation of boundary integral equations for governing equations and the moving least‐squares (MLS) approximations for generating the trial and test functions. In this approach, boundary conditions can be implemented directly and easily despite of the fact that the MLS shape functions lack the delta function property. Besides, the resulting formulation inherits the symmetry and positive definiteness of the variational problems. The GBNM is developed in this paper for solving three‐dimensional stationary incompressible Stokes flows in primitive variables. The numerical scheme is based on variational formulations for the first‐kind integral equations, which are valid for both interior and exterior problems simultaneously. A rigorous error analysis and convergence study of the method for both the velocity and the pressure is presented in Sobolev spaces. The capability of the method is also illustrated and assessed through some selected numerical examples. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

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.     

Non-reflecting boundary conditions for plane waves in anisotropic elasticity and poroelasticity

The paper presents exact non-reflecting boundary conditions for transient plane waves in an anisotropic elastic solid for oblique incidence. The boundary conditions are expressed through the eigenvectors of the acoustic tensor and are written in impedance form as a relation between the velocity vector and the traction vector. The approach is extended to anisotropic fluid-saturated porous solids. Exact plane-wave non-reflecting boundary conditions are derived for transient non-dissipative waves in a medium with infinite or zero permeability, and for steady-state dissipative waves.     

Boundary element acoustic analysis of hybrid expansion chamber silencers with perforated facing

The substructure boundary element approach is developed to predict and analyze the acoustic attenuation characteristics of hybrid expansion chamber silencers with perforated facing. The silencers are divided into a number of acoustic domains with single medium (air or sound-absorbing material), and treating the sound-absorbing material as an equivalent fluid with complex-valued density and speed of sound (or complex-valued characteristic impedance and wavenumber), and then the boundary element method (BEM) may be applied to each domain leading to a system of equations in terms of acoustic pressure and particle velocity. Using the specific acoustic impedance of perforate, which takes into account the effect of sound-absorbing material, the relationship of acoustic pressures and particle velocities between the inlet and outlet of silencer may be obtained and then transmission loss is determined. For the straight-through perforated tube reactive and dissipative silencers, the predictions of transmission loss agree reasonably well with experimental measurements available in the literature, which demonstrated the applicability and accuracy of the present approach. The BEM is then used to investigate the effect of internal structure on the acoustic attenuation characteristics of hybrid expansion chamber silencers with perforated facing. The numerical results demonstrated that the hybrid expansion chambers may provide higher acoustic attenuation than the reactive expansion chamber in the mid to high frequency range.     

Stochastic spline fictitious boundary element method in elastostatic problems with random fields

Mathematical formulation and computational implementation of the stochastic spline fictitious boundary element method (SFBEM) are presented for the analysis of plane elasticity problems with material parameters modeled with random fields. Two sets of governing differential equations with respect to the means and deviations of structural responses are derived by including the first order terms of deviations. These equations, being in similar forms to those of deterministic elastostatic problems, can be solved using deterministic fundamental solutions. The calculation is conducted with SFBEM, a modified indirect boundary element method (IBEM), resulting in the means and covariances of responses. The proposed method is validated by comparing the solutions obtained with Monte Carlo simulation for a number of example problems and a good agreement of results is observed.     

Sensitivity Enhancement of Concurrent Technique of Acoustic Impedance Measurement

Measurement of acoustic impedance requires both the measurement of ultrasonic velocity as well as density. The present work is an extension of our previous novel method reported and validated through a series of acoustic impedance studies carried out in a number of pure, binary and ternary liquid mixtures. To bypass the ambiguity of measurement of velocity and density independently, and to overcome the limitation of previously developed concurrent method for measurement of acoustic impedance, a new novel mathematical approach has been developed. Admittedly, in case of two liquids of approximately identical impedances, it is difficult to detect the variation using the proposed method. Consequently, the method requires some modification to study the small changes in acoustic impedance. In order to achieve the desired sensitivity, a novel mathematical approach has been developed and reported in this paper which overcomes the limitations of our previously developed concurrent method for the measurement of acoustic impedance. Present work analyses the factors that contribute to the sensitivity. Finally, a methodology has been suggested for achieving the maximum sensitivity. Several experiments were carried out using the present technique and results obtained clearly show higher sensitivity over the results obtained using previous technique. The modified method would be a useful tool for the researchers in a number of applications, such as the study of intermolecular interactions in liquids, adulteration estimation, finalization of process parameters, etc.     

Modal vibrations of an infinite cylinder in an acoustic halfspace

Acoustic radiation from an infinite cylindrical surface vibrating with an arbitrary, time-harmonic surface velocity distribution while positioned near the rigid/compliant boundary of a semi-infinite ideal compressible fluid medium is determined in an exact fashion using the classical method of separation of variables. The formulation utilizes the appropriate wave-field expansions and the method of images along with the pertinent translational addition theorem to develop a closed-form solution in form of infinite series. The analytical results are illustrated with numerical examples in which the cylindrical source, vibrating in the monopole and dipole-like modes, is positioned near the rigid/compliant boundary of a water-filled acoustic halfspace. Subsequently, the basic acoustic field quantities such as the modal acoustic radiation impedance load, radiated far-field pressure and the radiation intensity distribution are evaluated for representative values of the parameters characterizing the system.     

Acoustic calculations with the hybrid boundary element method in time domain

The boundary element method (BEM) is an efficient tool for the calculation of acoustic wave propagation in fluids. Transient waves can be solved by either using a formulation in frequency domain along with an inverse Fourier transformation or a time domain formulation. To increase the efficiency for the solver and allow for an efficient coupling with finite element domains the symmetry of the system matrices is advantageous. If Hamilton's principle is used, a symmetric variational formulation can be established with the velocity potential as field variable. The single field principle is generalized as multifield principle as basis of a hybrid BEM for the calculation of acoustic fields in compressible fluids in time domain. The state variables are separated into boundary variables, which are approximated by piecewise polynomials and domain variables, which are approximated by a superposition of weighted fundamental solutions. In both approximations the time and space dependency is separated. This is why static fundamental solution can be used for the field approximation. The domain integrals are eliminated, respectively, transformed into boundary integrals and an equation of motion with symmetric mass and stiffness matrix is obtained, which can be solved by a direct time integration scheme or by mode superposition. The time derivative of the equation of motion leads to a formulation with pressure and acoustic flux on the boundary for an easier interpretation of the variables.     

Wave based method for mid-frequency analysis of coupled vibro-acoustic problem

Conventional element based methods for modeling acoustic problems are limited to low-frequency applications. Recently, wave based method has been developed which is based on the indirect Trefftz approach. In contrast with the finite element method, in which the structural and acoustic domains are discretized into small elements and the dynamic equations are solved within each element using simple, approximate shape functions, the field variable distributions within the entire of the structural or acoustic domains are approximated in terms of wave functions, which are exact solutions of the homogeneous parts of the dynamic equations and particular solutions of the inhomogeneous dynamic equations are added. The contributions of the wave functions are determined by applying the boundary conditions in a weighted residual formulation or least-squares formulation. Then, direct differentiation of the expressions with respect to design variables leads to expressions of the sensitivities. A comparison with the element based method illustrates that the prediction method has a substantially higher convergence rate, which makes the method applicable for accurate coupled vibro-acoustic predictions up to mid-frequency.     

A mixed-variable continuously deforming finite element method for parabolic evolution problems. Part III: Numerical implementation and computational results

In Part I of this paper,¹ the conceptual framework of a rate variational least squares formulation of a continuously deforming mixed-variable finite element method was presented for solving a single evolution equation. In Part II² a system of ordinary differential equations with respect to time was derived for solving a system of three coupled evolution equations by the deforming grid mixed-variable least squares rate variational finite element method. The system of evolution equations describes the coupled heat flow, fluid flow and trace species transport in porous media under conditions when the flow velocities and constituent phase transitions induce sharp fronts in the solution domain. In this paper, we present the method we have adopted to integrate with respect to time the resulting spatially discretized system of non-linear ordinary differential equations. Next, we present computational results obtained using the code in which this deforming mixed finite element method was implemented. Because several features of the formulation are novel and have not been previously attempted, the problems were selected to exercise these features with the objective of demonstrating that the formulation is correct and that the numerical procedures adopted converge to the correct solutions.     

A size-dependent nonlinear Timoshenko microbeam model based on the strain gradient theory

The geometrically nonlinear governing differential equations of motion and the corresponding boundary conditions are derived for the mechanical analysis of Timoshenko microbeams with large deflections, based on the strain gradient theory. The variational approach is employed to achieve the formulation. Hinged-hinged beams are considered as an important practical case, and their nonlinear static and free-vibration behaviors are investigated based on the derived formulation.     

A combined BEM–FEM model for the velocity–vorticity formulation of the Navier–Stokes equations in three dimensions

This paper describes a combined boundary element and finite element model for the solution of velocity–vorticity formulation of the Navier–Stokes equations in three dimensions. In the velocity–vorticity formulation of the Navier–Stokes equations, the Poisson type velocity equations are solved using the boundary element method (BEM) and the vorticity transport equations are solved using the finite element method (FEM) and both are combined to form an iterative scheme. The vorticity boundary conditions for the solution of vorticity transport equations are exactly obtained directly from the BEM solution of the velocity Poisson equations. Here the results of medium Reynolds number of up to 1000, in a typical cubic cavity flow are presented and compared with other numerical models. The combined BEM–FEM model are generally in fairly close agreement with the results of other numerical models, even for a coarse mesh.     

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.     

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 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.     

Dynamic equilibrium equations of composite anisotropic beams considering the effects of transverse shear deformations and structural damping

In this paper, Hamilton's principle is used to derive the dynamic equilibrium equations of composite nonprismatic beams made of anisotropic materials. The effects of transverse shear deformations and structural damping are considered. The displacements are defined on an arbitrarily selected coordinate system. For Hamilton's principle, the dynamic behavior of nonprismatic beams is characterized by two energy functions: a kinetic energy and a potential energy. The formulation uses the procedure of variational operations. The obtained dynamic equilibrium equations and natural boundary conditions are highly coupled.     

Finite elements in space and time for generalized viscoelastic maxwell model

 The generalization of a new numerical approach with simultaneous space–time finite element discretization for viscoelastic problems developed in the papers by Buch et al. (1999) and Idesman et al. (2000) is presented for the case of the generalized viscoelastic Maxwell model. New non-symmetric variational and discretized formulations are derived using the continuous Galerkin method (CGM) and discontinuous Galerkin method (DGM). Viscoelastic behaviour described by the generalized Maxwell model is represented by means of internal variables. It allows to use only differential equations for the constitutive equations instead of integrodifferential ones. The variational formulation reduces to two types of equations with total displacements and internal displacements (internal variables) as unknowns, namely to the equilibrium equation and the evolution equations for the internal displacements which are fulfilled in the weak form. Using continuous test functions in space and time, a continuous space–time finite element formulation is obtained with simultaneous discretization in space and time. Subdividing the total observation time interval into appropriate time slabs and introducing discontinuous trial functions, being continuous within time slabs and allowing jumps across time interfaces, a more general discontinuous finite element formulation is obtained. The difference between these two formulations for one time slab consists in the satisfaction of initial conditions which are fulfilled exactly for the continuous formulation and in a weak form for the discontinuous case. The proposed approach has some very attractive advantages with respect to semidiscretization methods, regarding the possibility of adaptive space–time refinements and efficient parallel processing on MIMD-parallel computers. The considered numerical examples show the effectiveness of simultaneous space–time finite element calculations and a high convergence rate for adaptive refinement. Numerical efficiency is an advantage of DGM in comparison with CGM for discontinuously changing (e.g. piecewise constant) boundary conditions in time and for solutions with high gradients. Received 7 February 2000     

Meshless shape design sensitivity analysis and optimization for contact problem with friction

 In this paper, a continuum-based shape design sensitivity formulation for a frictional contact problem with a rigid body is proposed using a meshless method. The contact condition is imposed using the penalty method that regularizes the solution of variational inequality. The shape dependency of the contact variational form with respect to the design velocity field is obtained. The dependency of the response with respect to the shape of the rigid body is also considered. It is shown that the sensitivity equation needs to be solved at the final converged load step for the frictionless contact problem, whereas for the frictional contact case the sensitivity solution is needed at the converged configuration of each load step because the sensitivity of the current load step depends on that of the previous load step. The continuum-based contact formulation and consistent linearization is critical for accurate shape design sensitivity results. The accuracy of the proposed method is compared with the finite difference result and excellent agreement is obtained for a door seal contact example. A design optimization problem is formulated and solved to reduce the contact gap opening successfully in a demonstration of the proposed method.     

Meshless analysis of two-dimensional Stokes flows with the Galerkin boundary node method

In this paper, the Galerkin boundary node method (GBNM) is developed for the solution of stationary Stokes problems in two dimensions. The GBNM is a boundary only meshless method that combines a variational form of boundary integral formulations for governing equations with the moving least-squares (MLS) approximations for construction of the trial and test functions. Boundary conditions in this approach are included into the variational form, thus they can be applied directly and easily despite the MLS shape functions lack the property of a delta function. Besides, the GBNM keeps the symmetry and positive definiteness of the variational problems. Convergence analysis results of both the velocity and the pressure are given. Some selected numerical tests are also presented to demonstrate the efficiency of the method.