A domain decomposition tool for boundary element methods

Domain decomposition boundary element methods have become increasingly popular over the last several years for a variety of reasons. In particular, these methods reduce the storage and CPU requirements, can result in sparse linear systems, are easy to parallelize, and, when used in conjunction with a dual reciprocity method, can significantly improve the conditioning of the associated linear system. Nevertheless, for complex geometries, determining an appropriate decomposition of the domain can be extremely difficult. A domain decomposition tool based on a graph partitioning algorithm is presented to automate the process and provide quality decompositions.     

A new boundary element technique without domain integrals for elastoplastic solids

A simple idea is proposed to solve boundary value problems for elastoplastic solids via boundary elements, namely, to use the Green's functions corresponding to both the loading and unloading branches of the tangent constitutive operator to solve for plastic and elastic regions, respectively. In this way, domain integrals are completely avoided in the boundary integral equations. Though a discretization of the region where plastic flow occurs still remains necessary to account for the inhomogeneity of plastic deformation, the elastoplastic analysis reduces, in essence, to a straightforward adaptation of techniques valid for anisotropic linear elastic constitutive equations (the loading branch of the elastoplastic constitutive operator may be viewed formally as a type of anisotropic elastic law). Numerical examples, using J₂‐flow theory with linear hardening, demonstrate that the proposed method retains all the advantages related to boundary element formulations, is stable and performs well. The method presented is for simplicity developed for the associative flow rule; however, a full derivation of Green's function and boundary integral equations is also given for the general case of non‐associative flow rule. It is shown that in the non‐associative case, a domain integral unavoidably arises in the formulation. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Analysis of frictional contact problem using boundary element method and domain decomposition method

In this paper, we study the bilateral or unilateral contact with Coulomb friction between two elastic solids, using a domain decomposition method coupled with the boundary element method. The decomposition method we have selected is the Schur complement method, a non‐overlapping technique. It enables to reduce the solution of the global problem to the solution of a problem defined only on the contact surface. Moreover, its principal advantage is that computing is done separately on each solid. We have chosen to associate it with the boundary element method. Indeed, it only requires the discretization of the boundaries of solids. This technique of coupling reduces the number of unknowns and the time of computing. We have applied it to the study of indentation of an elastic foundation by an elastic flat punch and a sphere. In this last case, our results are in conformity with the Hertz theory and the analytical solution of Spence. Moreover, we have shown the influence of friction on the size of the contact radius and on the normal pressure at centre. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Preconditioning for boundary element methods in domain decomposition

This paper is concerned with asymptotically almost optimal preconditioning techniques for the solution of coupled elliptic problems with piecewise continuous coefficients by domain decomposition methods. Spectrally equivalent, two- and multilevel interface preconditioners are proposed and analyzed. They are applied to two basic formulations: strongly elliptic skew-symmetric problems and symmetric, positive definite variational problems; the former involves the classical boundary potentials from the Calderon projections and the latter is based on the Steklov–Poincaré operators associated with subdomains of the decomposition. The preconditioners considered are shown to be robust with respect to both mesh-parameters and jumps in the coefficients.     

A time domain boundary element method for poroelasticity

The development of a general boundary element method (BEM) for two- and three-dimensional quasistatic poroelasticity is discussed in detail. The new formulation, for the complete Biot consolidation theory, operates directly in the time domain and requires only boundary discretization. As a result, the dimensionality of the problem is reduced by one and the method becomes quite attractive for geotechnical analyses, particularly those which involve extensive or infinite domains. The presentation includes the definition of the two key ingredients for the BEM, namely, the fundamental solutions and a reciprocal theorem. Then, once the boundary integral equations are derived, the focus shifts to an overview of the general purpose numerical implementation. This implementation includes higher-order conforming elements, self-adaptive integration and multi-region capability. Finally, several detailed examples are presented to illustrate the accuracy and suitability of this boundary element approach for consolidation analysis.     

A parallel domain decomposition boundary element method approach for the solution of large-scale transient heat conduction problems

This paper develops a parallel domain decomposition Laplace transform BEM algorithm for the solution of large-scale transient heat conduction problems. In order to tackle large problems the original domain is decomposed into a number of sub-domains, and a Laplace transform method is utilized to avoid time marching. A procedure is described which provides a good initial guess for the domain interface temperatures, and an iteration procedure is carried out to satisfy continuity of temperature and heat flux at the domain interfaces. The decomposition procedure significantly reduces the size of any single problem for the BEM, which significantly reduces the overall storage and computational burden and renders the application of the BEM to large transient conduction problems on modest computational platforms. The procedure is readily implemented in parallel and applicable to 3D problems. Moreover, as the approach described herein readily allows adaptation and integration of traditional BEM codes, it is expected that the domain decomposition approach coupled to parallel implementation should prove very competitive to alternatives proposed in the literature such as fast multipole acceleration methods that require a complete re-write of traditional BEM codes.     

Coupling of a non‐overlapping domain decomposition method for a nodal finite element method with a boundary element method

Non‐overlapping domain decomposition techniques are used to solve the finite element equations and to couple them with a boundary element method. A suitable approach dealing with finite element nodes common to more than two subdomains, the so‐called cross‐points, endows the method with the following advantages. It yields a robust and efficient procedure to solve the equations resulting from the discretization process. Only small size finite element linear systems and a dense linear system related to a simple boundary integral equation are solved at each iteration and each of them can be solved in a stable way. We also show how to choose the parameter defining the augmented local matrices in order to improve the convergence. Several numerical simulations in 2D and 3D validating the treatment of the cross‐points and illustrating the strategy to accelerate the iterative procedure are presented. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The multiple Reciprocity boundary element method in elasticity: A new approach for transforming domain integrals to the boundary

This paper presents a new boundary element approach to transform domain integrals into equivalent boundary integrals. The technique, called the Multiple Reciprocity Method, is applied to 2-D elasticity problems and operates on domain integrals resulting from different types of body forces such as gravitational and centrifugal forces, as well as loadings due to linear and quadratic temperature distributions. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the method.     

Domain decomposition boundary element method with overlapping sub-domains

A numerical approach based on the domain decomposition boundary element method (BEM) with overlapping sub-domains has been developed. The approach simplifies the assembly of the equations arising from the BEM sub-domain methods, reduces the size of the system matrix, produces a closed system of equations when continuous elements are used, and reduces any problems arising from near-singular or singular integrals which otherwise may appear in the integral equations. The overlapping numerical approach is tested on three different problems, i.e., the Poisson equation, and a one-dimensional and two-dimensional convection–diffusion problems. The approach is implemented in combination with the dual reciprocity method (DRM) with two different radial basis functions (RBFs), though the approach is general and can be applied with other BEM formulations. The results are compared with the previous results obtained using the dual reciprocity method–multi domain (DRM–MD) approach, showing comparable accuracy and convergence.     

The specified boundary stiffness/force SBSF method for finite element subregion analysis

It is difficult to analyse a large, complex structure in sufficient detail to obtain accurate results everywhere. One approach is simply to refine the whole structure model in the regions of interest. Another approach is to identify a subregion of the structure and develop a separate refined model of the subregion. It is difficult to assure accuracy in this subregion model because of uncertainties in specifying boundary conditions and loading from the whole structure model solution. In the current literature, three methods other than whole model refinement have been described to deal with this problem. These are called the specified boundary displacement method, the linear constraint method and the zooming method. This paper describes a new approach to this problem of modelling subregions. This approach uses the stiffnesses and forces from the whole model solution at the nodes on the boundary of the sub-region model. Accurate displacement and stress solutions are obtained with this method as it takes into account the interaction between the new stiffness of the subregion and the rest of the structure. This approach is similar to substructuring; however, the equations outside the subregion are discarded rather than condensed out, which results in much less computation effort. Examples of the application of this method to the problem of a plate with a centre hole in tensile loading are presented. The results compared favourably with the results of the same problem solved using other methods, with significant improvement in accuracy over the specified boundary displacement method. Also presented are some results from design modification of the subregion which illustrate the potential of this method for redesign application.     

A dual domain decomposition method for finite element digital image correlation

The computational burden associated to finite element based digital image correlation methods is mostly due to the inversion of finite element systems and to image interpolations. A non‐overlapping dual domain decomposition method is here proposed to rationalise the computational cost of high resolution finite element digital image correlation measurements when dealing with large images. It consists in splitting the global mesh into submeshes and the reference and deformed states images into subset images. Classic finite element digital image correlation formulations are first written in each subdomain independently. The displacement continuity at the interfaces is enforced by introducing a set of Lagrange multipliers. The problem is then condensed on the interface and solved by a conjugate gradient algorithm. Three different preconditioners are proposed to accelerate its convergence. The proposed domain decomposition method is here exemplified with real high resolution images. It is shown to combine the metrological performances of finite element based digital image correlation and the parallelisation ability of subset based methods. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fast decomposition of matrices generated by the boundary element method

A new method to reduce the solution time of matrices generated by the Boundary Element Method is presented here. The method involves converting the fully populated system into a banded system by lumping certain coefficients of the matrix into fictitious nodes and then constraining these nodes to accurately represent each coefficient. The major advantages of lumping over the substructuring method are that lumping can be applied to arbitrarily shaped geometries and infinite-domain problems and that it preserves the diagonal-dominance of the matrix. It is shown here that the proposed algorithm reduces the rate of increase of solution time t of an n-degree-of-freedom problem from t ∝ n³ to t ∝ n². Although the algorithm is for thermal problems, its extension to mechanical problems is straightforward. The procedure can easily be incorporated into existing boundary-element-based packages.     

A time-marching scheme based on implicit Green’s functions for elastodynamic analysis with the domain boundary element method

The present work presents an alternative time-marching technique for boundary element formulations based on static fundamental solutions. The domain boundary element method (D-BEM) is adopted and the time-domain Green’s matrices of the elastodynamic problem are considered in order to generate a recursive relationship to evaluate displacements and velocities at each time-step. Taking into account the Newmark method, the Green’s matrices of the problem are numerically and implicitly evaluated, establishing the Green–Newmark method. At the end of the work, numerical examples are presented, verifying the accuracy and potentialities of the new methodology.     

An overlapping domain decomposition approach for coupling the finite and boundary element methods

An overlapping iterative domain decomposition approach for the coupling of the finite element method (FEM) and the boundary element method (BEM) is presented in this paper. In this proposed method, the domain of the original problem is subdivided into a FEM sub-domain and a BEM sub-domain, such that the two sub-domains partially overlap over a common region. The common region is modeled by both methods. A brief discussion on the existing iterative coupling methods and their limitations are given in the first part of this paper. In the second part, the proposed overlapping method is described and the convergence conditions are presented. Two numerical examples are given to demonstrate the capability of the proposed method for handling cases where the Neumann boundary conditions are specified on the entire external boundary of the FEM or BEM sub-domains.     

Laplacian decomposition and the boundary element method for solving Stokes problems

The solution of the equations governing the steady incompressible slow viscous fluid flow is analysed using a novel technique based on a Laplacian decomposition instead of the more traditional approaches based on the biharmonic streamfunction formulation or the velocity-pressure formulation. This results in the need to solve the Laplace equations for the pressure and other auxiliary harmonic functions which arise from the ideas of Almansi's decomposition. These equations, which become coupled through the boundary conditions, are numerically solved using the boundary element method (BEM). Results both on the boundary and inside the solution domain are presented and discussed for a simple benchmark test example and a few applications in smooth and non-smooth geometries in order to illustrate that the Laplacian decomposition in combination with BEM provides an efficient technique, in terms of accuracy and convergence, to investigate numerically a Stokes flow.     

The multiblock method. A new strategy based on domain decomposition for the solution of wave propagation problems

A novel single‐step domain decomposition technique for the elastic wave propagation problem is introduced in this paper, based on the Huygens principle. The method allows an effective and efficient implementation on parallel computers through coarse‐grain multiprocessor computations. The various tests and numerical examples let infer that it is very competitive in comparison with classic substructuring techniques, specially for implicit discretization schemes. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A boundary/domain element method for analysis of building raft foundations

In this paper, a new boundary/domain element method is developed to analyse plates resting on elastic foundations. The developed formulation is then used in analysing building raft foundations. For more practical representation, the considered raft plate is treated as thick plate with free edge boundary conditions. The soil or the elastic foundation is represented as continuous media (follows the Winkler assumption). The boundary element method is employed to model the raft plate; whereas the soil is modelled using constant domain cells or elements. Therefore, in the present formulation both the domain and the boundary of the raft plate are discretized. The associate soil domain integral is replaced by equivalent boundary integrals along each cell contour. The necessary matrix implementation of such formulation is carried out and explained in details. The main advantage of the present formulation is the ability of analysing rafts on non-homogenous soils. Two examples are presented including raft on non-homogenous soil and raft for practical building applications. The results are compared with those obtained from other finite element and alternative boundary element methods to verify the validity and accuracy of the present formulation.     

Numerical calculation of grounding system in low‐frequency domain based on the boundary element method

A new mathematical model for accurately computing currents flowing along the high‐voltage ac substation's grounding system and nearby floating metallic conductors buried in the multilayer earth model has been developed in this paper, which is a hybrid of the Galerkin‐type boundary element method (BEM) and the conventional nodal analysis method. Only the propagation effect of electromagnetic waves within the substation's limited area has been neglected in this model. The quasi‐static complex image method and the closed form of Green's function are introduced into this model to accelerate the mutual impedance and induction coefficients calculation. The model is then implemented in a computer program, which can be used to calculate current distribution of any configuration of the grounding system, with or without floating metallic conductors'. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The stochastic Galerkin scaled boundary finite element method on random domain

The research work extends the scaled boundary finite element method to non‐deterministic framework defined on random domain wherein random behaviour is exhibited in the presence of the random‐field uncertainties. The aim is to blend the scaled boundary finite element method into the Galerkin spectral stochastic methods, which leads to a proficient procedure for handling the stress singularity problems and crack analysis. The Young's modulus of structures is considered to have random‐field uncertainty resulting in the stochastic behaviour of responses. Mathematical expressions and the solution procedure are derived to evaluate the statistical characteristics of responses (displacement, strain, and stress) and stress intensity factors of cracked structures. The feasibility and effectiveness of the presented method are demonstrated by particularly chosen numerical examples. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.