Accurate reanalysis of structures by a preconditioned conjugate gradient method

A preconditioned conjugate gradient (PCG) method that is most suitable for reanalysis of structures is developed. The method presented provides accurate results efficiently. It is easy to implement and can be used in a wide range of applications, including non‐linear analysis and eigenvalue problems. It is shown that the PCG method presented and the combined approximations (CA) method developed recently provide theoretically identical results. Consequently, available results from one method can be applied to the other method. Effective solution procedures developed for the CA method can be used for the PCG method, and various criteria and error bounds developed for conjugate gradient methods can be used for the CA method. Numerical examples show that the condition number of the selected preconditioned matrix is much smaller than the condition number of the original matrix. This property explains the fast convergence and accurate results achieved by the method. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Interval finite element method for dynamic response of closed‐loop system with uncertain parameters

In practical engineering, it is difficult to obtain all possible solutions of dynamic responses with sharp bounds even if an optimum scheme is adopted where there are many uncertain parameters. In this paper, using the interval finite element (IFE) method and precise time integration (PTI) method, we discuss the dynamic response of vibration control problem of structures with interval parameters. With matrix perturbation theory and interval arithmetic, the algorithm for estimating upper and lower bounds of dynamic response of the closed‐loop system is developed directly from the interval parameters. Two numerical examples are given to illustrate the application of the present method. The example 1 is used to show the applicability of the present method. The example 2 is used to show the validity of the present method by comparing the results with those obtained by the classical random perturbation method. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An efficient diagonal preconditioner for finite element solution of Biot's consolidation equations

Finite element simulations of very large‐scale soil–structure interaction problems (e.g. excavations, tunnelling, pile‐rafts, etc.) typically involve the solution of a very large, ill‐conditioned, and indefinite Biot system of equations. The traditional preconditioned conjugate gradient solver coupled with the standard Jacobi (SJ) preconditioner can be very inefficient for this class of problems. This paper presents a robust generalized Jacobi (GJ) preconditioner that is extremely effective for solving very large‐scale Biot's finite element equations using the symmetric quasi‐minimal residual method. The GJ preconditioner can be formed, inverted, and implemented within an ‘element‐by‐element’ framework as readily as the SJ preconditioner. It was derived as a diagonal approximation to a theoretical form, which can be proven mathematically to possess an attractive eigenvalue clustering property. The effectiveness of the GJ preconditioner over a wide range of soil stiffness and permeability was demonstrated numerically using a simple three‐dimensional footing problem. This paper casts a new perspective on the potentialities of the simple diagonal preconditioner, which has been commonly perceived as being useful only in situations where it can serve as an approximate inverse to a diagonally dominant coefficient matrix. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A discontinuous‐Galerkin‐based immersed boundary method

A numerical method to approximate partial differential equations on meshes that do not conform to the domain boundaries is introduced. The proposed method is conceptually simple and free of user‐defined parameters. Starting with a conforming finite element mesh, the key ingredient is to switch those elements intersected by the Dirichlet boundary to a discontinuous‐Galerkin approximation and impose the Dirichlet boundary conditions strongly. By virtue of relaxing the continuity constraint at those elements, boundary locking is avoided and optimal‐order convergence is achieved. This is shown through numerical experiments in reaction–diffusion problems. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An adaptive simplex cut‐cell method for high‐order discontinuous Galerkin discretizations of conjugate heat transfer problems

In this paper, we present a solution framework for high‐order discretizations of conjugate heat transfer problems on non‐body‐conforming meshes. The framework consists of and leverages recent developments in discontinuous Galerkin discretization, simplex cut‐cell techniques, and anisotropic output‐based adaptation. With the cut‐cell technique, the mesh generation process is completely decoupled from the interface definitions. In addition, the adaptive scheme combined with the discontinuous Galerkin discretization automatically adjusts the mesh in each sub‐domain and achieves high‐order accuracy in outputs of interest. We demonstrate the solution framework through several multi‐domained conjugate heat transfer problems consisting of laminar and turbulent flows, curved geometry, and highly coupled heat transfer regions. The combination of these attributes yield nonintuitive coupled interactions between fluid and solid domains, which can be difficult to capture with user‐generated meshes. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A prototype knowledge-based system for material selection of ceramic matrix composites of automotive engine components

A prototype knowledge based system (KBS) for material selection of ceramic matrix composites (CMC) for engine components such as piston, connecting rod and piston ring is proposed in this paper. The main aim of this research work is to select the most suitable material for the automotive engine components. The selection criteria are based upon the pre-defined constraint value. The constraint values are mechanical, physical properties and manufacturing techniques. The constraint values are the safety values for the product design. The constraint values are selected from the product design specification. The product design specification values are selected from the past design calculation and some values are calculated by the help of past design data. The knowledge-based system consists of several modules such as knowledge acquisition module, inference module and user interface module. The domains of the knowledge-based system are defined as objects and linked together by hierarchical graph. The system is capable of selecting the most suitable materials and ranks the materials with respect to their properties. The design engineers can choose the required materials related to the materials property.     

Normalized explicit approximate inverse preconditioning for solving 3D boundary value problems on uniprocessor and distributed systems

Normalized explicit approximate inverse matrix techniques, based on normalized approximate factorization procedures, for solving sparse linear systems resulting from the finite difference discretization of partial differential equations in three space variables are introduced. Normalized explicit preconditioned conjugate gradient schemes in conjunction with normalized approximate inverse matrix techniques are presented for solving sparse linear systems. The convergence analysis with theoretical estimates on the rate of convergence and computational complexity of the normalized explicit preconditioned conjugate gradient method are also derived. A Parallel Normalized Explicit Preconditioned Conjugate Gradient method for distributed memory systems, using message passing interface (MPI) communication library, is also given along with theoretical estimates on speedups, efficiency and computational complexity. Application of the proposed method on a three‐dimensional boundary value problem is discussed and numerical results are given for uniprocessor and multicomputer systems. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The vertex solution theorem and its coupled framework for static analysis of structures with interval parameters

This work gives new statement of the vertex solution theorem for exact bounds of the solution to linear interval equations and its novel proof by virtue of the convex set theory. The core idea of the theorem is to transform linear interval equations into a series of equivalent deterministic linear equations. Then, the important theorem is extended to find the upper and lower bounds of static displacements of structures with interval parameters. Following discussions about the computational efforts, a coupled framework based on vertex method (VM) is established, which allows us to solve many large‐scale engineering problems with uncertainties using deterministic finite element software. Compared with the previous works, the contribution of this work is not only to obtain the exact bounds of static displacements but also lay the foundation for development of an easy‐to‐use interval finite element software. Numerical examples demonstrate the good accuracy of VM. Meanwhile, the implementation of VM and availability of the coupled framework are demonstrated by engineering example. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An efficient quadrilateral element for plate bending analysis

A simple, shear flexible, quadrilateral plate element is developed based on the Hellinger/Reissner mixed variational principle with independently assumed displacement and stress fields. The crucial point of the selection of appropriate stress parameters is emphasized in the formulation. For this purpose, a set of guidelines is formulated based on the following considerations: (i) suppression of all kinematic deformation modes, (ii) the element has a favourable value for the constraint index in the thin plate limit, (iii) element properties are frame-invariant. For computer implementation the components of the element stiffness matrix are evaluated analytically using the symbolic manipulation package MACSYMA. The effectiveness and practical usefulness of the proposed element are demonstrated by the numerical results of a variety of problems involving thin and moderately thick plates under different loading and support conditions.     

Adaptive frequency windowing for multifrequency solutions in structural acoustics based on the matrix Padé‐via‐Lanczos algorithm

For many problems in structural acoustics, it is desired to obtain solutions at many frequencies over a large range in the frequency domain. A reduced‐order multifrequency algorithm based on matrix Padé approximation, using the matrix Padé‐via‐Lanczos (MPVL) connection, has been previously used to solve both exterior and interior acoustic problems. However, the method is not guaranteed to give the correct solution across the entire frequency region of interest, but only locally around a reference frequency. An adaptive frequency windowing scheme is introduced to address this shortcoming for practical application of this method. The application of this algorithm to tightly coupled problems in interior structural acoustics is presented. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Preconditioning methods for very ill‐conditioned three‐dimensional linear elasticity problems

Finite element models of linear elasticity arise in many application areas of structural analysis. Solving the resulting system of equations accounts for a large portion of the total cost for large, three‐dimensional models, for which direct methods can be prohibitively expensive. Preconditioned Conjugate Gradient (PCG) methods are used to solve difficult problems with small (≪1) average element aspect ratios. Incomplete Cholesky (ILL^T) factorizations based on a drop tolerance parameter are used to form the preconditioning matrices. Various new techniques known as reduction techniques are examined. Combinations of these reduction techniques result in highly effective preconditioners for problems with very poor aspect ratios. Standard and hierarchical triquadratic basis functions are used on hexahedral elements, and test problems comprising a variety of geo‐metries with up to 50 000 degrees of freedom are considered. Manteuffel’s method of perturbing the stiffness matrix to ensure positive pivots occur during factorization is used, and its effects on the convergence of the preconditioned system are discussed. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An evaluation of limited‐memory sparse linear solvers for thermo‐mechanical applications

We consider the performance of sparse linear solvers for problems that arise from thermo‐mechanical applications. Such problems have been solved using sparse direct schemes that enable robust solution at the expense of memory requirements that grow non‐linearly with the dimension of the coefficient matrix. In this paper, we consider a class of preconditioned iterative solvers as a limited‐memory alternative to direct solution schemes. However, such preconditioned iterative solvers typically exhibit complex trade‐offs between reliability and performance. We therefore characterize such trade‐offs for systems from thermo‐mechanical problems by considering several preconditioning schemes including multilevel methods and those based on sparse approximate inversion and incomplete matrix factorization. We provide an analysis of computational costs and memory requirements for model thermo‐mechanical problems, indicating that certain incomplete factorization schemes can achieve good performance. We also provide empirical evaluations that corroborate our analysis and indicate the relative effectiveness of different solution schemes. Our results indicate that our drop‐threshold incomplete Cholesky preconditioning is more robust, efficient and flexible than other popular preconditioning schemes. In addition, we propose preconditioner reuse to amortize preconditioner construction cost over a sequence of linear systems that arise from non‐linear solutions in a plastic regime. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

桥梁移动荷载识别的不适定性及其试验研究

对桥梁移动荷载识别方程不适定问题进行研究，提出采用预处理共轭梯度法（PCGM）求解超定方程组，通过选择不同的预优矩阵，改善和解决超定方程组的欠秩和病态问题。为验证基于PCGM方法的现场实用性，设计制作了车桥试验模型，通过试验采集到的桥梁弯矩响应数据识别桥面移动荷载。比较桥梁模态数、预处理共轭梯度法迭代次数、桥面粗糙度、车辆重量以及测点选择对识别结果精度的影响后，研究结果表明：基于PCGM方法能够很好地识别车辆荷载，收敛较快且能较好改善荷载识别方程的不适定性。     

Design of a composite beam using the failure probability‐safety factor method

The paper shows the practical importance of the failure probability‐safety factor method for designing engineering works. The method provides an automatic design tool by optimizing an objective function subject to the standard geometric and code constraints, and two more sets of constraints, that guarantee some given safety factors and failure probability bounds, associated with a given set of failure modes. Since a direct solution of the optimization problem is not possible, the method proceeds as a sequence of three steps: (a) an optimal classical design, based on given safety factors, is done, (b) failure probabilities or bounds of all failure modes are calculated, and (c) safety factors bounds are adjusted. This implies a double safety check that leads to safer structures and designs less prone to wrong or unrealistic probability assumptions, and to excessively small (unsafe) or large (costly) safety factors. Finally, the actual global or combined probabilities of the different failure modes and their correlation are calculated using a Monte Carlo simulation. In addition, a sensitivity analysis is performed. To this end, the optimization problems are transformed into another equivalent ones, in which the data parameters are converted into artificial variables. In this way, some variables of the dual associated problems become the desired sensitivities. The method is illustrated by its application to the design of a composite beam. Copyright 2004 © John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Automatic sizing functions for unstructured surface mesh generation

Accurate sizing functions are crucial for efficient generation of high‐quality meshes, but to define the sizing function is often the bottleneck in complicated mesh generation tasks because of the tedious user interaction involved. We present a novel algorithm to automatically create high‐quality sizing functions for surface mesh generation. First, the tessellation of a Computer Aided Design (CAD) model is taken as the background mesh, in which an initial sizing function is defined by considering geometrical factors and user‐specified parameters. Then, a convex nonlinear programming problem is formulated and solved efficiently to obtain a smoothed sizing function that corresponds to a mesh satisfying necessary gradient constraint conditions and containing a significantly reduced element number. Finally, this sizing function is applied in an advancing front mesher. With the aid of a walk‐through algorithm, an efficient sizing‐value query scheme is developed. Meshing experiments of some very complicated geometry models are presented to demonstrate that the proposed sizing‐function approach enables accurate and fully automatic surface mesh generation. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Device Physics of Dye Solar Cells

Design of new materials for nanostructured dye solar cells (DSC) requires understanding the link between the material properties and cell efficiency. This paper gives an overview of the fundamental and practical aspects of the modeling and characterization of DSCs, and integrates the knowledge into a user‐friendly DSC device model. Starting from basic physical and electrochemical concepts, mathematical expressions for the IV curve and differential resistance of all resistive cell components are derived and their relation to electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is explained. The current understanding of the associated physics is discussed in detail and clarified. It is shown how the model parameters can be determined from complete DSCs by current dependent EIS and incident‐photon‐to‐collected‐electron (IPCE) measurements, supplemented by optical characterization, and used to quantify performance losses in DSCs. The paper aims to give a necessary theoretical background and practical guidelines for establishing an effective feedback‐loop for DSC testing and development.     

Nonlinear three-dimensional magnetic field computations usingLagrange finite-element functions and algebraic multigrid

The paper proposes an efficient solution strategy for nonlinear three-dimensional (3-D) magnetic field problems. The spatial discretization of Maxwell's equations uses Lagrange finite-element functions. The paper shows that this discretization is appropriate for the problem class. The nonlinear equation is linearized by the standard fixed-point scheme. The arising sequence of symmetric positive definite matrices is solved by a preconditioned conjugate gradient method, preconditioned by an algebraic multigrid technique. Because of the relatively high setup time of algebraic multigrid, the preconditioner is kept constant as long as possible in order to minimize the overall CPU time. A practical control mechanism keeps the condition number of the overall preconditioned system as small as possible and reduces the total computational costs in terms of CPU time. Numerical studies involving the TEAM 20 and the TEAM 27 problem demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed technique. For comparison, the standard incomplete Cholesky preconditioner is used     

Outage-constrained capacity of spectrum-sharing channels in fading environments

Cognitive radio technology has been recently proposed for sharing and utilising the spectrum in order to satisfy the increasing demands for spectrum access. In this radio technology, secondary users may be granted access to the spectrum bands occupied by a primary user as long as the interference power, inflicted on the primary receiver as an effect of the transmission of the secondary user, is deemed unharmful. In this paper the authors assume that the successful operation of the primary user requires a minimum rate to be guaranteed by its channel for a certain percentage of time and obtain the interference-power constraint that is required to be fulfilled by the secondary user. Considering the input transmit-power constraint, on average or peak power, for the secondary user, the authors investigate the capacity gains offered by this spectrum-sharing approach when only partial channel information of the link between the secondary's transmitter and primary's receiver is available to the former. In particular, the lower bounds on the capacity of a Rayleigh flat-fading channel with two different transmission techniques, namely channel inversion and optimum rate allocation with constant power transmission, are derived. Closed-form expressions for these capacity metrics are provided, and numerical simulations are conducted to corroborate the theoretical results.     

POD–ISAT: An efficient POD‐based surrogate approach with adaptive tabulation and fidelity regions for parametrized steady‐state PDE discrete solutions

A combination of proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) analysis and in situ adaptive tabulation (ISAT) is proposed for the representation of parameter‐dependent solutions of coupled partial differential equation problems. POD is used for the low‐order representation of the spatial fields and ISAT for the local representation of the solution in the design parameter space. The accuracy of the method is easily controlled by free threshold parameters that can be adjusted according to user needs. The method is tested on a coupled fluid‐thermal problem: the design of a simplified aircraft air control system. It is successfully compared with the standard POD; although the POD is inaccurate in certain areas of the design parameters space, the POD–ISAT method achieves accuracy thanks to trust regions based on residuals of the fluid‐thermal problem. The presented POD–ISAT approach provides flexibility, robustness and tunable accuracy to represent solutions of parametrized partial differential equations.Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.