STOCHASTIC BOUNDARY ELEMENT METHODS FOR 3D PROBLEMS WITH BODY FORCES AND ITS APPLICATION IN RELIABILITY OF TURBINE DISKS

The stochastic boundary element method(SBEM)is developed in this paper for 3D problems with body forces and reliability analysis of engineering structures.The integral equations of SBEM are established by the approach of partial derivation with respect to stochastic variables,considering the yield limit,rotation speeds and material density to be the fundamental stochastic variables.Through analyzing a numerical example and a turbo-disk of an aeroengine,the results show that the method developed is successful.

Extended finite element-based cohesive zone method for modeling simultaneous hydraulic fracture height growth in layered reservoirs

In this study,a fully coupled hydromechanical model within the extended finite element method(XFEM)-based cohesive zone method(CZM)is employed to investigate the simultaneous height growth behavior of multi-cluster hydraulic fractures in layered porous reservoirs with modulus contrast.The coupled hydromechanical model is first verified against an analytical solution and a laboratory experiment.Then,the fracture geometry(e.g.height,aperture,and area)and fluid pressure evolutions of multiple hydraulic fractures placed in a porous reservoir interbedded with alternating stiff and soft layers are investigated using the model.The stress and pore pressure distributions within the layered reservoir during fluid injection are also presented.The simulation results reveal that stress umbrellas are easily to form among multiple hydraulic fractures’tips when propagating in soft layers,which impedes the simultaneous height growth.It is also observed that the impediment effect of soft layer is much more significant in the fractures suppressed by the preferential growth of adjoining fractures.After that,the combined effect of in situ stress ratio and fracturing spacing on the multi-fracture height growth is presented,and the results elucidate the influence of in situ stress ratio on the height growth behavior depending on the fracture spacing.Finally,it is found that the inclusion of soft layers changes the aperture distribution of outmost and interior hydraulic fractures.The results obtained from this study may provide some insights on the understanding of hydraulic fracture height containment observed in filed.

A stable implicit nodal integration-based particle finite element method(N-PFEM)for modelling saturated soil dynamics

In this study,we present a novel nodal integration-based particle finite element method(N-PFEM)designed for the dynamic analysis of saturated soils.Our approach incorporates the nodal integration technique into a generalised Hellinger-Reissner(HR)variational principle,creating an implicit PFEM formulation.To mitigate the volumetric locking issue in low-order elements,we employ a node-based strain smoothing technique.By discretising field variables at the centre of smoothing cells,we achieve nodal integration over cells,eliminating the need for sophisticated mapping operations after re-meshing in the PFEM.We express the discretised governing equations as a min-max optimisation problem,which is further reformulated as a standard second-order cone programming(SOCP)problem.Stresses,pore water pressure,and displacements are simultaneously determined using the advanced primal-dual interior point method.Consequently,our numerical model offers improved accuracy for stresses and pore water pressure compared to the displacement-based PFEM formulation.Numerical experiments demonstrate that the N-PFEM efficiently captures both transient and long-term hydro-mechanical behaviour of saturated soils with high accuracy,obviating the need for stabilisation or regularisation techniques commonly employed in other nodal integration-based PFEM approaches.This work holds significant implications for the development of robust and accurate numerical tools for studying saturated soil dynamics.

Investigation on mechanism of magnetization reversal for nanocrystalline Pr-Fe-B permanent magnets by micromagnetic finite element methods

Magnetization configurations were calculated under various magnetic fields for nanocrystalline Pr-Fe-B permanent magnets by micromagnetic finite element method.According to the configurations during demagnetization process, the mechanism of magnetization reversal was analyzed.For the Pr2Fe14B with 10 nm grains or its composite with 10vol.% α-Fe, the coercivity was determined by nucleation of reversed domain that took place at grain boundaries.However, for Pr2Fe14B with 30 nm grains, coercivity was controlled by pinning of the nucle-ated domain.For Pr2Fe14B/α-Fe with 30vol.% α-Fe, the demagnetization behavior was characterized by continuous reversal of α-Fe moment.

Two-grid methods for semi-linear elliptic interface problems by immersed finite element methods

In this paper,two-grid immersed finite element (IFE) algorithms are proposed and analyzed for semi-linear interface problems with discontinuous diffusion coefficients in two dimension.Because of the advantages of finite element (FE) formulation and the simple structure of Cartesian grids,the IFE discretization is used in this paper.Two-grid schemes are formulated to linearize the FE equations.It is theoretically and numerically illustrated that the coarse space can be selected as coarse as H =O(h^1/4)(or H =O(h^1/8)),and the asymptotically optimal approximation can be achieved as the nonlinear schemes.As a result,we can settle a great majority of nonlinear equations as easy as linearized problems.In order to estimate the present two-grid algorithms,we derive the optimal error estimates of the IFE solution in the L^p norm.Numerical experiments are given to verify the theorems and indicate that the present two-grid algorithms can greatly improve the computing efficiency.

A review of methods,applications and limitations for incorporating fluid flow in the discrete element method

The past decade has witnessed the substantial growth in research interests and progress on the subject of coupled hydro-mechanical processes in rocks and soils,driven mainly by the surge of research in unconventional hydrocarbon reservoirs and associated hazards.Many coupling techniques have been developed to include the effects of fluid flow in the discrete element method(DEM),and the techniques have been applied to a variety of geomechanical problems.Although these coupling methods have been successfully applied in various engineering fields,no single fluid/DEM coupling method is universal due to the complexity of engineering problems and the limitations of the numerical methods.For researchers and engineers,the key to solve a specific problem is to select the most appropriate fluid/DEM coupling method among these modeling technologies.The purpose of this paper is to give a comprehensive review of fluid flow/DEM coupling methods and relevant research.Given their importance,the availability or unavailability of best practice guidelines is outlined.The theoretical background and current status of DEM are introduced first,and the principles,applications,and advantages and disadvantages of different fluid flow/DEM coupling methods are discussed.Finally,a summary with speculation on future development trends is given.

TWO-LEVEL MULTISCALE FINITE ELEMENT METHODS FOR THE STEADY NAVIER-STOKES PROBLEM

In this article, on the basis of two-level discretizations and multiscale finite element method, two kinds of finite element algorithms for steady Navier-Stokes problem are presented and discussed. The main technique is first to use a standard finite element discretization on a coarse mesh to approximate low frequencies, then to apply the simple and Newton scheme to linearize discretizations on a fine grid. At this process, multiscale finite element method as a stabilized method deals with the lowest equal-order finite element pairs not satisfying the inf-sup condition. Under the uniqueness condition, error analyses for both algorithms are given. Numerical results are reported to demonstrate the effectiveness of the simple and Newton scheme.

Forward and inverse problem for cardiac magnetic field and electric potential using two boundary element methods

This paper discusses the forward and inverse problem for cardiac magnetic fields and electric potentials. A torso-heart model established by boundary element method （BEM） is used for studying the distributions of cardiac magnetic fields and electric potentials. Because node-to-node and triangle-to-triangle BEM can lead to discrepant field distributions, their properties and influences are compared. Then based on constructed torso-heart model and supposed current source functional model-current dipole array, the magnetic and electric imaging by optimal constrained linear inverse method are applied at the same time. Through figure and reconstructing parameter comparison, though the magnetic current dipole array imaging possesses better reconstructing effect, however node-to-node BEM and triangleto-triangle BEM make little difference to magnetic and electric imaging.

A BICUBIC B-SPLINE FINITE ELEMENT METHOD FOR FOURTH-ORDER SEMILINEAR PARABOLIC OPTIMAL CONTROL PROBLEMS

A bicubic B-spline finite element method is proposed to solve optimal control problems governed by fourth-order semilinear parabolic partial differential equations.Its key feature is the selection of bicubic B-splines as trial functions to approximate the state and costate variables in two space dimensions.A Crank-Nicolson difference scheme is constructed for time discretization.The resulting numerical solutions belong to C2in space,and the order of the coefficient matrix is low.Moreover,the Bogner-Fox-Schmit element is considered for comparison.Two numerical experiments demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method.

Generalized nth-Order Perturbation Method Based on Loop Subdivision Surface Boundary Element Method for Three-Dimensional Broadband Structural Acoustic Uncertainty Analysis

In this paper,a generalized nth-order perturbation method based on the isogeometric boundary element method is proposed for the uncertainty analysis of broadband structural acoustic scattering problems.The Burton-Miller method is employed to solve the problem of non-unique solutions that may be encountered in the external acoustic field,and the nth-order discretization formulation of the boundary integral equation is derived.In addition,the computation of loop subdivision surfaces and the subdivision rules are introduced.In order to confirm the effectiveness of the algorithm,the computed results are contrasted and analyzed with the results under Monte Carlo simulations(MCs)through several numerical examples.

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.

An Innovative Coupled Common-Node Discrete Element Method-Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics Model Developed with LS-DYNA and Its Applications

In this study,a common-node DEM-SPH coupling model based on the shared node method is proposed,and a fluid–structure coupling method using the common-node discrete element method-smoothed particle hydrodynamics(DS-SPH)method is developed using LS-DYNA software.The DEM and SPH are established on the same node to create common-node DEM-SPH particles,allowing for fluid–structure interactions.Numerical simulations of various scenarios,including water entry of a rigid sphere,dam-break propagation over wet beds,impact on an ice plate floating on water and ice accumulation on offshore structures,are conducted.The interaction between DS particles and SPH fluid and the crack generation mechanism and expansion characteristics of the ice plate under the interaction of structure and fluid are also studied.The results are compared with available data to verify the proposed coupling method.Notably,the simulation results demonstrated that controlling the cutoff pressure of internal SPH particles could effectively control particle splashing during ice crushing failure.

Damage Mechanism of Ultra-thin Asphalt Overlay(UTAO) based on Discrete Element Method

Aiming to analyze the damage mechanism of UTAO from the perspective of meso-mechanical mechanism using discrete element method(DEM),we conducted study of diseases problems of UTAO in several provinces in China,and found that aggregate spalling was one of the main disease types of UTAO.A discrete element model of UTAO pavement structure was constructed to explore the meso-mechanical mechanism of UTAO damage under the influence of layer thickness,gradation,and bonding modulus.The experimental results show that,as the thickness of UTAO decreasing,the maximum value and the mean value of the contact force between all aggregate particles gradually increase,which leads to aggregates more prone to spalling.Compared with OGFC-5 UTAO,AC-5 UTAO presents smaller maximum and average values of all contact forces,and the loading pressure in AC-5 UTAO is fully diffused in the lateral direction.In addition,the increment of pavement modulus strengthens the overall force of aggregate particles inside UTAO,resulting in aggregate particles peeling off more easily.The increase of bonding modulus changes the position where the maximum value of the tangential force appears,whereas has no effect on the normal force.

A Deep Learning Approach to Shape Optimization Problems for Flexoelectric Materials Using the Isogeometric Finite Element Method

A new approach for flexoelectricmaterial shape optimization is proposed in this study.In this work,a proxymodel based on artificial neural network(ANN)is used to solve the parameter optimization and shape optimization problems.To improve the fitting ability of the neural network,we use the idea of pre-training to determine the structure of the neural network and combine different optimizers for training.The isogeometric analysis-finite element method(IGA-FEM)is used to discretize the flexural theoretical formulas and obtain samples,which helps ANN to build a proxy model from the model shape to the target value.The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified through two numerical examples of parameter optimization and one numerical example of shape optimization.

Galerkin-based quasi-smooth manifold element(QSME)method for anisotropic heat conduction problems in composites with complex geometry

The accurate and efficient analysis of anisotropic heat conduction problems in complex composites is crucial for structural design and performance evaluation. Traditional numerical methods, such as the finite element method(FEM), often face a trade-off between calculation accuracy and efficiency. In this paper, we propose a quasi-smooth manifold element(QSME) method to address this challenge, and provide the accurate and efficient analysis of two-dimensional(2D) anisotropic heat conduction problems in composites with complex geometry. The QSME approach achieves high calculation precision by a high-order local approximation that ensures the first-order derivative continuity.The results demonstrate that the QSME method is robust and stable, offering both high accuracy and efficiency in the heat conduction analysis. With the same degrees of freedom(DOFs), the QSME method can achieve at least an order of magnitude higher calculation accuracy than the traditional FEM. Additionally, under the same level of calculation error, the QSME method requires 10 times fewer DOFs than the traditional FEM. The versatility of the proposed QSME method extends beyond anisotropic heat conduction problems in complex composites. The proposed QSME method can also be applied to other problems, including fluid flows, mechanical analyses, and other multi-field coupled problems, providing accurate and efficient numerical simulations.

A New Isogeometric Finite Element Method for Analyzing Structures

High-performance finite element research has always been a major focus of finite element method studies.This article introduces isogeometric analysis into the finite element method and proposes a new isogeometric finite element method.Firstly,the physical field is approximated by uniform B-spline interpolation,while geometry is represented by non-uniform rational B-spline interpolation.By introducing a transformation matrix,elements of types C^(0)and C^(1)are constructed in the isogeometric finite element method.Subsequently,the corresponding calculation formats for one-dimensional bars,beams,and two-dimensional linear elasticity in the isogeometric finite element method are derived through variational principles and parameter mapping.The proposed method combines element construction techniques of the finite element method with geometric construction techniques of isogeometric analysis,eliminating the need for mesh generation and maintaining flexibility in element construc-tion.Two elements with interpolation characteristics are constructed in the method so that boundary conditions and connections between elements can be processed like the finite element method.Finally,the test results of several examples show that:(1)Under the same degree and element node numbers,the constructed elements are almost consistent with the results obtained by traditional finite element method;(2)For bar problems with large local field variations and beam problems with variable cross-sections,high-degree and multi-nodes elements constructed can achieve high computational accuracy with fewer degrees of freedom than finite element method;(3)The computational efficiency of isogeometric finite element method is higher than finite element method under similar degrees of freedom,while as degrees of freedom increase,the computational efficiency between the two is similar.

Dynamic Characteristics of Irregular Ice Floes Based on Polyhedral Discrete Element Method

In polar regions, floating ice exhibits distinct characteristics across a range of spatial scales. It is well recognized that the irregular geometry of these ice formations markedly influences their dynamic behavior. This study introduces a polyhedral Discrete Element Method (DEM) tailored for polar ice, incorporating the Gilbert-Johnson-Keerthi (GJK) and Expanding Polytope Algorithm (EPA) for contact detection. This approach facilitates the simulation of the drift and collision processes of floating ice, effectively capturing its freezing and fragmentation. Subsequently, the stability and reli ability of this model are validated by uniaxial compression on level ice fields, focusing specifically on the influence of compression strength on deformation resistance. Additionally, clusters of ice floes nav igating through narrow channels are simulated. These studies have qualitatively assessed the effects of Floe Size Distribution (FSD), initial concentration, and circularity on their flow dynamics. The higher power-law exponent values in the FSD, increased circularity, and decreased concentration are each as sociated with accelerated flow in ice floe fields. The simulation results distinctly demonstrate the con siderable impact of sea ice geometry on the movement of clusters, offering valuable insights into the complexities of polar ice dynamics.

Dynamic failure process of expanded polystyrene particle lightweight soil under cyclic loading using discrete element method

Expanded polystyrene(EPS)particle-based lightweight soil,which is a type of lightweight filler,is mainly used in road engineering.The stability of subgrades under dynamic loading is attracting increased research attention.The traditional method for studying the dynamic strength characteristics of soils is dynamic triaxial testing,and the discrete element simulation of lightweight soils under cyclic load has rarely been considered.To study the meso-mechanisms of the dynamic failure processes of EPS particle lightweight soils,a discrete element numerical model is established using the particle flow code(PFC)software.The contact force,displacement field,and velocity field of lightweight soil under different cumulative compressive strains are studied.The results show that the hysteresis curves of lightweight soil present characteristics of strain accumulation,which reflect the cyclic effects of the dynamic load.When the confining pressure increases,the contact force of the particles also increases.The confining pressure can restrain the motion of the particle system and increase the dynamic strength of the sample.When the confining pressure is held constant,an increase in compressive strain causes minimal change in the contact force between soil particles.However,the contact force between the EPS particles decreases,and their displacement direction points vertically toward the center of the sample.Under an increase in compressive strain,the velocity direction of the particle system changes from a random distribution and points vertically toward the center of the sample.When the compressive strain is 5%,the number of particles deflected in the particle velocity direction increases significantly,and the cumulative rate of deformation in the lightweight soil accelerates.Therefore,it is feasible to use 5%compressive strain as the dynamic strength standard for lightweight soil.Discrete element methods provide a new approach toward the dynamic performance evaluation of lightweight soil subgrades.

The Boundary Element Method for Ordinary State-Based Peridynamics

The peridynamics(PD),as a promising nonlocal continuum mechanics theory,shines in solving discontinuous problems.Up to now,various numerical methods,such as the peridynamic mesh-free particlemethod(PD-MPM),peridynamic finite element method(PD-FEM),and peridynamic boundary element method(PD-BEM),have been proposed.PD-BEM,in particular,outperforms other methods by eliminating spurious boundary softening,efficiently handling infinite problems,and ensuring high computational accuracy.However,the existing PD-BEM is constructed exclusively for bond-based peridynamics(BBPD)with fixed Poisson’s ratio,limiting its applicability to crack propagation problems and scenarios involving infinite or semi-infinite problems.In this paper,we address these limitations by introducing the boundary element method(BEM)for ordinary state-based peridynamics(OSPD-BEM).Additionally,we present a crack propagationmodel embeddedwithin the framework ofOSPD-BEM to simulate crack propagations.To validate the effectiveness of OSPD-BEM,we conduct four numerical examples:deformation under uniaxial loading,crack initiation in a double-notched specimen,wedge-splitting test,and threepoint bending test.The results demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of OSPD-BEM,highlighting its capability to successfully eliminate spurious boundary softening phenomena under varying Poisson’s ratios.Moreover,OSPDBEMsignificantly reduces computational time and exhibits greater consistencywith experimental results compared to PD-MPM.

Semi-analytical finite element method applied for characterizing micropolar fibrous composites

A semi-analytical finite element method(SAFEM),based on the two-scale asymptotic homogenization method(AHM)and the finite element method(FEM),is implemented to obtain the effective properties of two-phase fiber-reinforced composites(FRCs).The fibers are periodically distributed and unidirectionally aligned in a homogeneous matrix.This framework addresses the static linear elastic micropolar problem through partial differential equations,subject to boundary conditions and perfect interface contact conditions.The mathematical formulation of the local problems and the effective coefficients are presented by the AHM.The local problems obtained from the AHM are solved by the FEM,which is denoted as the SAFEM.The numerical results are provided,and the accuracy of the solutions is analyzed,indicating that the formulas and results obtained with the SAFEM may serve as the reference points for validating the outcomes of experimental and numerical computations.