Uniform bicubic B-splines applied to boundary element formulation for 3-D scalar problems

In this work, uniform bicubic B-spline functions are used to represent the surface geometry and interpolation functions in the formulation of boundary-element method (BEM) for three-dimensional problems. This is done as a natural generalization of cubic B-spline curves, introduced by Cabral et al, for two-dimensional problems. Three-dimensional scalar problems, with particular applications to Laplace and Helmholtz equations, are considered.     

An improved boundary element formulation for wave propagation problems

In this paper the dual reciprocity formulation for scalar wave equations and elastodynamic problems developed by Nardini & Brebbia is extended to the problem of waves propagating in an infinite domain by applying the Sommerfeld's radiation condition on a suitable artificial boundary. The free surface condition of first order can also be taken into consideration. To validate the present scheme, some examples have been worked out and compared with analytical solutions.     

An efficient method for the two-dimensional elastostatic boundary element method

In order to obtain accurate results and to reduce computation time, we have proposed in this paper a new strategic method, where quadratic elements are used at the corner points and linear elements at the points off the corner points. A computer program using this method has been developed and applied to several problems of various shapes. The usefulness of this method was illustrated by the application results.     

Dual boundary element formulation applied to analysis of multi-fractured domains

This paper deals with analysis of multiple random crack propagation in two-dimensional domains using the boundary element method (BEM). BEM is known to be a robust and accurate numerical technique for analysing this type of problem. The formulation adopted in this work is based on the dual BEM, for which singular and hyper-singular integral equations are used. We propose an iterative scheme to predict the crack growth path and the crack length increment at each time step. The proposed scheme able us to simulate localisation and coalescence phenomena, which is the main contribution of this paper. Considering the fracture mechanics analysis, the displacement correlation technique is applied to evaluate the stress intensity factors. The propagation angle and the equivalent stress intensity factor are calculated using the theory of maximum circumferential stress. Examples of simple and multi-fractured domains, loaded up to the rupture, are considered to illustrate the applicability of the proposed scheme.     

Numerical solution of two-dimensional inverse force function in the wave equation with nonlocal boundary conditions

In this paper, the spectral meshless radial point interpolation (SMRPI) technique is applied to the inverse time-dependent force function in the wave equation on regular and irregular domains. The SMRPI is developed for identifying the force function which satisfies in the wave equation subject to the integral overspecification over a portion of the spatial domain or to the overspecification at a point in the spatial domain. This method is based on erudite combination of meshless methods and spectral collocation techniques. The point interpolation method with the help of radial basis functions is used to construct shape functions which play as basis functions in the frame of SMRPI. Since the problem is known to be ill-posed, Thikhonov regularization strategy is employed to solve effectively the discrete ill-posed resultant linear system. Three numerical examples are tested to show that numerical results are accurate for exact data and stable with noisy data.     

Non-linear boundary element formulation applied to contact analysis using tangent operator

This work presents a non-linear boundary element formulation applied to analysis of contact problems. The boundary element method (BEM) is known as a robust and accurate numerical technique to handle this type of problem, because the contact among the solids occurs along their boundaries. The proposed non-linear formulation is based on the use of singular or hyper-singular integral equations by BEM, for multi-region contact. When the contact occurs between crack surfaces, the formulation adopted is the dual version of BEM, in which singular and hyper-singular integral equations are defined along the opposite sides of the contact boundaries. The structural non-linear behaviour on the contact is considered using Coulomb's friction law. The non-linear formulation is based on the tangent operator in which one uses the derivate of the set of algebraic equations to construct the corrections for the non-linear process. This implicit formulation has shown accurate as the classical approach, however, it is faster to compute the solution. Examples of simple and multi-region contact problems are shown to illustrate the applicability of the proposed scheme.     

Axisymmetric formulation for boundary integral equation methods in scalar potential problems

Axisymmetric geometries often appear in electromagnetic device studies. The authors present an original formulation for Boundary Integral Equation methods in scalar potential problems. This technique requires only 2D boundary in the r-z plane and evaluation of the equations only on those boundaries.     

Finite element dispersion analysis for the three-dimensional second-order scalar wave equation

The dispersive properties of finite element semidiscretizations of the three-dimensional second-order scalar wave equation are examined for both plane and spherical waves. This analysis throws light on the performance and limitations of the finite element approximation over the entire spectrum of wavenumbers and provides guidance for optimal mesh discretization as well as mass representation. The 8-node trilinear element, 20-node serendipity element, 27-node triquadratic element and the linear and quadratic spherically symmetric elements are considered.     

New formulation of the absorbing boundary conditions for the wave equation

New approximate absorbing boundary conditions for the wave equation are derived using the method of multiple scales.     

An efficient stabilized boundary element formulation for 2D time-domain acoustics and elastodynamics

The present paper describes a procedure that improves efficiency, stability and reduces artificial energy dissipation of the standard time-domain direct boundary element method (BEM) for acoustics and elastodynamics. Basically, the developed procedure modifies the boundary element convolution-related vector, being very easy to implement into existing codes. A stabilization parameter is introduced into the recent-in-time convolution operations and the operations related to the distant-in-time convolution contributions are approximated by matrix interpolations. As it is shown in the numerical examples presented at the end of the text, the proposed formulation substantially reduces the BEM computational cost, as well as its numerical instabilities.     

The boundary element method applied to the analysis of two-dimensional nonlinear sloshing problems

This paper deals with an application of the boundary element method to the analysis of nonlinear sloshing problems, namely nonlinear oscillations of a liquid in a container subjected to forced oscillations. First, the problem is formulated mathematically as a nonlinear initial-boundary value problem by the use of a governing differential equation and boundary conditions, assuming the fluid to be inviscid and incompressible and the flow to be irrotational. Next, the governing equation (Laplace equation) and boundary conditions, except the dynamic boundary condition on the free surface, are transformed into an integral equation by employing the Galerkin method. Two dynamic boundary condition is reduced to a weighted residual equation by employing the Galerkin method. Two equations thus obtained are discretized by the use of the finite element method spacewise and the finite difference method timewise. Collocation method is employed for the discretization of the integral equation. Due to the nonlinearity of the problem, the incremental method is used for the numerical analysis. Numerical results obtained by the present boundary element method are compared with those obtained by the conventional finite element method and also with existing analytical solutions of the nonlinear theory. Good agreements are obtained, and this indicates the availability of the boundary element method as a numerical technique for nonlinear free surface fluid problems.     

A new boundary element formulation for wave load analysis

A new boundary element (BEM) formulation is proposed for wave load analysis of submerged or floating bodies. The presented formulation, through establishing an impedance relation, permits the evaluation of the hydrodynamic coefficients (added mass and damping coefficients) and the coefficients of wave exciting forces systematically in terms of system matrices of BEM without solving any special problem, such as, unit velocity or unit excitation problem. It also eliminates the need for scattering analysis in the evaluation of wave exciting forces. The imaginary and real parts of impedance matrix give, respectively, added mass and damping matrices whose elements describe the fluid resistance against the motion of the body. The formulation is explained through the use of a simple fluid-solid system under wave excitations, which involves a uniform fluid layer containing a solid cylindrical body. In the formulation, the solid body is taken first as deformable, then, it is specialized when it is rigid. The validity of the proposed method is verified by comparing its result with those available in literature for rigid submerged or floating bodies.     

Dispersion analysis of finite element semidiscretizations of the two-dimensional wave equation

The dispersive properties of finite element semidiscretizations of the two-dimensional wave equation are examined. Both bilinear quadrilateral elements and linear triangular elements are considered with diagonal and nondiagonal mass matrices in uniform meshes. It is shown that mass diagonalization and underintegration of the stiffness matrix of the quadrilateral element markedly increases dispersive errors. The dispersive properties of triangular meshes depends on the mesh layout; certain layouts introduce optical modes which amplify numerically induced oscillations and dispersive errors. Compared to the five-point Laplacian finite difference operator, rectangular finite element semidiscretizations with consistent mass matrices provide superior fidelity regardless of the wave direction.     

An efficient dual boundary element technique for a two-dimensional fracture problem with multiple cracks

An efficient dual boundary element technique for the analysis of a two-dimensional finite body with multiple cracks is established. In addition to the displacement integral equation derived for the outer boundary, since the relative displacement of the crack surfaces is adopted in the formulation, only the traction integral equation is established on one of the crack surfaces. For each crack, a virtual boundary is devised and connected to one of the crack surfaces to construct a closed integral path. The rigid body translation for the domain enclosed by the closed integral path is then employed for evaluating the hypersingular integral. To solve the dual displacement/traction integral equations simultaneously, the constant and quadratic isoparametric elements are taken to discretize the closed integral paths/crack surfaces and the outer boundary, respectively. The present method has distinct computational advantages in solving a fracture problem which has arbitrary numbers, distributions, orientations and shapes of cracks by a few boundary elements. Several examples are analysed and the computed results are in excellent agreement with other analytical or numerical solutions.     

Finite element formulation of exact non‐reflecting boundary conditions for the time‐dependent wave equation

A modified version of an exact Non‐reflecting Boundary Condition (NRBC) first derived by Grote and Keller is implemented in a finite element formulation for the scalar wave equation. The NRBC annihilate the first N wave harmonics on a spherical truncation boundary, and may be viewed as an extension of the second‐order local boundary condition derived by Bayliss and Turkel. Two alternative finite element formulations are given. In the first, the boundary operator is implemented directly as a ‘natural’ boundary condition in the weak form of the initial–boundary value problem. In the second, the operator is implemented indirectly by introducing auxiliary variables on the truncation boundary. Several versions of implicit and explicit time‐integration schemes are presented for solution of the finite element semidiscrete equations concurrently with the first‐order differential equations associated with the NRBC and an auxiliary variable. Numerical studies are performed to assess the accuracy and convergence properties of the NRBC when implemented in the finite element method. The results demonstrate that the finite element formulation of the (modified) NRBC is remarkably robust, and highly accurate. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.