A hybrid vertex-centered finite volume/element method for viscous incompressible flows on non-staggered unstructured meshes

This paper proposes a hybrid vertex-centered fi- nite volume/finite element method for solution of the two di- mensional （2D） incompressible Navier-Stokes equations on unstructured grids. An incremental pressure fractional step method is adopted to handle the velocity-pressure coupling. The velocity and the pressure are collocated at the node of the vertex-centered control volume which is formed by join- ing the centroid of cells sharing the common vertex. For the temporal integration of the momentum equations, an im- plicit second-order scheme is utilized to enhance the com- putational stability and eliminate the time step limit due to the diffusion term. The momentum equations are discretized by the vertex-centered finite volume method （FVM） and the pressure Poisson equation is solved by the Galerkin finite el- ement method （FEM）. The momentum interpolation is used to damp out the spurious pressure wiggles. The test case with analytical solutions demonstrates second-order accuracy of the current hybrid scheme in time and space for both veloc- ity and pressure. The classic test cases, the lid-driven cavity flow, the skew cavity flow and the backward-facing step flow, show that numerical results are in good agreement with the published benchmark solutions.

Matrix-Free Higher-Order Finite Element Method for Parallel Simulation of Compressible and Nearly-Incompressible Linear Dedicated to Professor Karl Stark Pister for his 95th birthday Elasticity on Unstructured Meshes

Higher-order displacement-based finite element methods are useful for simulating bending problems and potentially addressing mesh-locking associated with nearly-incompressible elasticity,yet are computationally expensive.To address the computational expense,the paper presents a matrix-free,displacement-based,higher-order,hexahedral finite element implementation of compressible and nearly-compressible(ν→0.5)linear isotropic elasticity at small strain with p-multigrid preconditioning.The cost,solve time,and scalability of the implementation with respect to strain energy error are investigated for polynomial order p=1,2,3,4 for compressible elasticity,and p=2,3,4 for nearly-incompressible elasticity,on different number of CPU cores for a tube bending problem.In the context of this matrix-free implementation,higher-order polynomials(p=3,4)generally are faster in achieving better accuracy in the solution than lower-order polynomials(p=1,2).However,for a beam bending simulation with stress concentration(singularity),it is demonstrated that higher-order finite elements do not improve the spatial order of convergence,even though accuracy is improved.

THE SUPERCLOSENESS OF THE FINITE ELEMENT METHOD FOR A SINGULARLY PERTURBED CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEM ON A BAKHVALOV-TYPE MESH IN 2D

For singularly perturbed convection-diffusion problems,supercloseness analysis of the finite element method is still open on Bakhvalov-type meshes,especially in the case of 2D.The difficulties arise from the width of the mesh in the layer adjacent to the transition point,resulting in a suboptimal estimate for convergence.Existing analysis techniques cannot handle these difficulties well.To fill this gap,here a novel interpolation is designed delicately for the smooth part of the solution,bringing about the optimal supercloseness result of almost order 2 under an energy norm for the finite element method.Our theoretical result is uniform in the singular perturbation parameterεand is supported by the numerical experiments.

A Computational Framework for Parachute Inflation Based on Immersed Boundary/Finite Element Approach

A computational framework for parachute inflation is developed based on the immersed boundary/finite element approach within the open-source IBAMR library.The fluid motion is solved by Peskin's diffuse-interface immersed boundary(IB)method,which is attractive for simulating moving-boundary flows with large deformations.The adaptive mesh refinement technique is employed to reduce the computational cost while retain the desired resolution.The dynamic response of the parachute is solved with the finite element approach.The canopy and cables of the parachute system are modeled with the hyperelastic material.A tether force is introduced to impose rigidity constraints for the parachute system.The accuracy and reliability of the present framework is validated by simulating inflation of a constrained square plate.Application of the present framework on several canonical cases further demonstrates its versatility for simulation of parachute inflation.

Multiscale Finite Element Method for Coupling Analysis of Heterogeneous Magneto-Electro-Elastic Structures in Thermal Environment

Magneto-electro-elastic (MEE) materials, a new type of composite intelligent materials, exhibit excellent multifield coupling effects. Due to the heterogeneity of the materials, it is challenging to use the traditional finite element method (FEM) for mechanical analysis. Additionally, the MEE materials are often in a complex service environment, especially under the influence of the thermal field with thermoelectric and thermomagnetic effects, which affect its mechanical properties. Therefore, this paper proposes the efficient multiscale computational method for the multifield coupling problem of heterogeneous MEE structures under the thermal environment. The method constructs a multi-physics field with numerical base functions (the displacement, electric potential, and magnetic potential multiscale base functions). It equates a single cell of heterogeneous MEE materials to a macroscopic unit and supplements the macroscopic model with a microscopic model. This allows the problem to be solved directly on a macroscopic scale. Finally, the numerical simulation results demonstrate that compared with the traditional FEM, the multiscale finite element method (MsFEM) can achieve the purpose of ensuring accuracy and reducing the degree of freedom, and significantly improving the calculation efficiency.

Spherical harmonics method for neutron transport equation based on unstructured-meshes

Based on a new second-order neutron transport equation, self-adjoint angular flux (SAAF) equation, the spherical harmonics (PN) method for neutron transport equation on unstructured-meshes is derived. The spherical harmonics function is used to expand the angular flux. A set of differential equations about the spatial variable, which are coupled with each other, can be obtained. They are solved iteratively by using the finite element method on un- structured-meshes. A two-dimension transport calculation program is coded according to the model. The numerical results of some benchmark problems demonstrate that this method can give high precision results and avoid the ray effect very well.

3D magnetotelluric inversions with unstructured finite-element and limited-memory quasi-Newton methods

Traditional 3D Magnetotelluric(MT) forward modeling and inversions are mostly based on structured meshes that have limited accuracy when modeling undulating surfaces and arbitrary structures. By contrast, unstructured-grid-based methods can model complex underground structures with high accuracy and overcome the defects of traditional methods, such as the high computational cost for improving model accuracy and the difficulty of inverting with topography. In this paper, we used the limited-memory quasi-Newton(L-BFGS) method with an unstructured finite-element grid to perform 3D MT inversions. This method avoids explicitly calculating Hessian matrices, which greatly reduces the memory requirements. After the first iteration, the approximate inverse Hessian matrix well approximates the true one, and the Newton step(set to 1) can meet the sufficient descent condition. Only one calculation of the objective function and its gradient are needed for each iteration, which greatly improves its computational efficiency. This approach is well-suited for large-scale 3D MT inversions. We have tested our algorithm on data with and without topography, and the results matched the real models well. We can recommend performing inversions based on an unstructured finite-element method and the L-BFGS method for situations with topography and complex underground structures.

High Accuracy Finite Volume Method for Solving Nonlinear Aeroacoustics Problems on Unstructured Meshes

The paper presents a finite volume numerical method universally applicable for solving both linear and nonlinear aeroacoustics problems on arbitrary unstructured meshes. It is based on the vertexcentered multi-parameter scheme offering up to the 6th accuracy order achieved on the Cartesian meshes. An adaptive dissipation is added for the numerical treatment of possible discontinuities. The scheme properties are studied on a series of test cases, its efficiency is demonstrated at simulating the noise suppression in resonance-type liners.

Nodeless variable finite element method for heat transfer analysis by means of flux-based formulation and mesh adaptation

Based on flux-based formulation, a nodeless variable element method is developed to analyze two-dimensional steady-state and transient heat transfer problems. The nodeless variable element employs quadratic interpolation functions to provide higher solution accuracy without necessity to actually generate additional nodes. The flux-based formulation is applied to reduce the complexity in deriving the finite element equations as compared to the conventional finite element method, The solution accuracy is further improved by implementing an adaptive meshing technique to generaie finite element mesh that can adapt and move along corresponding to the solution behavior. The technique generates small elements in the regions of steep solution gradients to provide accurate solution, and meanwhile it generates larger elements in the other regions where the solution gradients are slight to reduce the computational time and the computer memory. The effectiveness of the combined procedure is demonstrated by heat transfer problems that have exact solutions. These problems tire： （a） a steady-state heat conduction analysis in a square plate subjected to a highly localized surface heating, and （b） a transient heat conduction analysis in a long plate subjected to moving heat source.

Implementing the Node Based Smoothed Finite Element Method as User Element in Abaqus for Linear and Nonlinear Elasticity

In this paper,the node based smoothed-strain Abaqus user element(UEL)in the framework of finite element method is introduced.The basic idea behind of the node based smoothed finite element(NSFEM)is that finite element cells are divided into subcells and subcells construct the smoothing domain associated with each node of a finite element cell[Liu,Dai and Nguyen-Thoi(2007)].Therefore,the numerical integration is globally performed over smoothing domains.It is demonstrated that the proposed UEL retains all the advantages of the NSFEM,i.e.,upper bound solution,overly soft stiffness and free from locking in compressible and nearly-incompressible media.In this work,the constant strain triangular(CST)elements are used to construct node based smoothing domains,since any complex two dimensional domains can be discretized using CST elements.This additional challenge is successfully addressed in this paper.The efficacy and robustness of the proposed work is obtained by several benchmark problems in both linear and nonlinear elasticity.The developed UEL and the associated files can be downloaded from https://github.com/nsundar/NSFEM.

ADAPTIVE FINITE ELEMENT METHOD BASED ON OPTIMAL ERROR ESTIMATES FOR LINEAR ELLIPTIC PROBLEMS ON CONCAVE CORNER DOMAINS

An adaptive finite element procedure designed for specific computational goals is presented,using mesh refinement strategies based on optimal or nearly optimal a priori error estimates for the finite element method and using estimators of the local regularity of the unknown exact solution derived from computed approximate solutions.The proposed procedure is analyzed in detail for a non-trivial class of corner problems and shown to be efficient in the sense that the method can generate the correct type of refinements and lead to the desired control under consideration.

Reverse time migration imaging of tunnels via the finite element method using an unstructured mesh

Wavefield extrapolation is critical in reverse time migration(RTM).The finite diff erence method is primarily used to achieve wavefi eld extrapolation in case of the RTM imaging of tunnels.However,complex tunnel models,including those for karsts and fault fracture zones,are constructed using regular grids with straight curves,which can cause numerical dispersion and reduce the imaging accuracy.In this study,wavefi eld extrapolation was conducted for tunnel RTM using the finite element method,wherein an unstructured mesh was considered to be the body-fi tted partition in a complex model.Further,a Poynting vector calculation equation suitable for the unstructured mesh considered in the fi nite element method was established to suppress the interference owing to low-frequency noise.The tunnel space was considered during wavefi eld extrapolation to suppress the mirror artifacts based on the fl exibility of mesh generation.Finally,the infl uence of the survey layouts(one and two sidewalls)on the tunnel imaging results was investigated.The RTM results obtained for a simple tunnel model with an inclined interface demonstrate that the method based on unstructured meshes can effectively suppress the low-frequency noise and mirror artifacts,obtaining clear imaging results.Furthermore,the two-sidewall tunnel survey layout can be used to accurately obtain the real position of the inclined interface ahead of the tunnel face.The complex tunnel numerical modeling and actual data migration results denote the eff ectiveness of the fi nite element method in which an unstructured mesh is used.

Finite Element Method Computations of the Acoustics of the Human Head Based on the Projection Based Interpolation Data

In this paper we present the Projection Based Interpolation (PBI) technique for construction of continuous approximation of MRI scan data of the human head. We utilize the result of the PBI algorithm to perform three dimensional (3D) Finite Element Method (FEM) simulations of the acoustics of the human head. The computational problem is a multi-physics problem modeled as acoustics coupled with linear elasticity. The computational grid contains tetrahedral finite elements with the number of equations and polynomial orders of approximation varying locally on finite element edges, faces, and interiors. We utilize our own out-of-core parallel direct solver for the solution of this multi-physics problem. The solver minimizes the memory usage by dumping out all local systems from all nodes of the entire elimination tree during the elimination phase.

A Modified Weak Galerkin Finite Element Method for the Biharmonic Equation on Polytopal Meshes

A modified weak Galerkin(MWG)finite element method is developed for solving the biharmonic equation.This method uses the same finite element space as that of the discontinuous Galerkin method,the space of discontinuous polynomials on polytopal meshes.But its formulation is simple,symmetric,positive definite,and parameter independent,without any of six inter-element face-integral terms in the formulation of the discontinuous Galerkin method.Optimal order error estimates in a discrete H2 norm are established for the corresponding finite element solutions.Error estimates in the L^(2)norm are also derived with a sub-optimal order of convergence for the lowest-order element and an optimal order of convergence for all high-order of elements.The numerical results are presented to confirm the theory of convergence.

THE ANALYTICAL SOLUTIONS BASED ON THE CONCEPT OF FINITE ELEMENT METHODS

On the basis of the concept of finite element methods, the rigorous analytical solutions of structural response in terms of the design variables are researched in this paper. The spatial trusses are taken as an example for the solution of the analytical expressions of the explicit displacements which are proved mathematically; then some conclusions are reached that are useful to structural sensitivity analysis and optimization. In the third part of the paper, a generalized geometric programming method is sugguested for the optimal model with the explicit displacement. Finally, the analytical solutions of the displacements of three trusses are given as examples.

COMBINED DELAUNAY TRIANGULATION AND ADAPTIVE FINITE ELEMENT METHOD FOR CRACK GROWTH ANALYSIS

The paper presents the utilization of the adaptive Delaunay triangulation in the finite element modeling of two dimensional crack propagation problems, including detailed description of the proposed procedure which consists of the Delaunay triangulation algorithm and an adaptive remeshing technique. The adaptive remeshing technique generates small elements around crack tips and large elements in the other regions. The resulting stress intensity factors and simulated crack propagation behavior are used to evaluate the effectiveness of the procedure. Three sample problems of a center cracked plate, a single edge cracked plate and a compact tension specimen, are simulated and their results assessed.

OpenIFEM:A High Performance Modular Open-Source Software of the Immersed Finite Element Method for Fluid-Structure Interactions

We present a high performance modularly-built open-source software-OpenIFEM.OpenIFEM is a C++implementation of the modified immersed finite element method(mIFEM)to solve fluid-structure interaction(FSI)problems.This software is modularly built to perform multiple tasks including fluid dynamics(incompressible and slightly compressible fluid models),linear and nonlinear solid mechanics,and fully coupled fluid-structure interactions.Most of open-source software packages are restricted to certain discretization methods;some are under-tested,under-documented,and lack modularity as well as extensibility.OpenIFEM is designed and built to include a set of generic classes for users to adapt so that any fluid and solid solvers can be coupled through the FSI algorithm.In addition,the package utilizes well-developed and tested libraries.It also comes with standard test cases that serve as software and algorithm validation.The software can be built on cross-platform,i.e.,Linux,Windows,and Mac OS,using CMake.Efficient parallelization is also implemented for high-performance computing for large-sized problems.OpenIFEM is documented using Doxygen and publicly available to download on GitHub.It is expected to benefit the future development of FSI algorithms and be applied to a variety of FSI applications.

A novel twice-interpolation finite element method for solid mechanics problems

Formulation and numerical evaluation of a novel twice-interpolation finite element method （TFEM） is presented for solid mechanics problems. In this method, the trial function for Galerkin weak form is constructed through two stages of consecutive interpolation. The primary interpolation follows exactly the same procedure of standard FEM and is further reproduced according to both nodal values and averaged nodal gradients obtained from primary interpolation. The trial functions thus constructed have continuous nodal gradients and contain higher order polynomial without increasing total freedoms. Several benchmark examples and a real dam problem are used to examine the TFEM in terms of accuracy and convergence. Compared with standard FEM, TFEM can achieve significantly better accuracy and higher convergence rate, and the continuous nodal stress can be obtained without any smoothing operation. It is also found that TFEM is insensitive to the quality of the elemental mesh. In addition, the present TFEM can treat the incompressible material without any modification.

DISCONTINUITY-CAPTURING FINITE ELEMENT COMPUTATION OF UNSTEADY FLOW WITH ADAPTIVE UNSTRUCTURED MESH

A discontinuity-capturing scheme of finite element method(FEM)is proposed.The unstructured-grid technique combined with a new type of adaptive mesh approach is developed for both compressible and incompressible unsteady flows,which exhibits the capability of capturing the shock waves and/or thin shear layers accurately in an unsteady viscous flow at high Reynolds number. In particular,a new testing variable,i.e.,the disturbed kinetic energy E,is suggested and used in the adaptive mesh computation,which is universally applicable to the capturing of both shock waves and shear layers in the inviscid flow and viscous flow at high Reynolds number.Based on several calculated examples,this approach has been proved to be effective and efficient for the calculations of compressible and incompressible flows.

ADAPTIVE FINITE ELEMENT METHOD FOR ANALYSIS OF POLLUTANT DISPERSION IN SHALLOW WATER

A finite element method for analysis of pollutant dispersion in shallow water is presented. The analysis is divided into two parts ： （ 1 ） computation of the velocity flow field and water surface elevation, and （2） computation of the pollutant concentration field from the dispersion model. The method was combined with an adaptive meshing technique to increase the solution accuracy, as well as to reduce the computational time and computer memory. The finite element formulation and the computer programs were validated by several examples that have known solutions. In addition, the capability of the combined method was demonstrated by analyzing pollutant dispersion in Chao Phraya River near the gulf of Thailand.