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.

A flexible multiscale algorithm based on an improved smoothed particle hydrodynamics method for complex viscoelastic flows

Viscoelastic flows play an important role in numerous engineering fields,and the multiscale algorithms for simulating viscoelastic flows have received significant attention in order to deepen our understanding of the nonlinear dynamic behaviors of viscoelastic fluids.However,traditional grid-based multiscale methods are confined to simple viscoelastic flows with short relaxation time,and there is a lack of uniform multiscale scheme available for coupling different solvers in the simulations of viscoelastic fluids.In this paper,a universal multiscale method coupling an improved smoothed particle hydrodynamics(SPH)and multiscale universal interface(MUI)library is presented for viscoelastic flows.The proposed multiscale method builds on an improved SPH method and leverages the MUI library to facilitate the exchange of information among different solvers in the overlapping domain.We test the capability and flexibility of the presented multiscale method to deal with complex viscoelastic flows by solving different multiscale problems of viscoelastic flows.In the first example,the simulation of a viscoelastic Poiseuille flow is carried out by two coupled improved SPH methods with different spatial resolutions.The effects of exchanging different physical quantities on the numerical results in both the upper and lower domains are also investigated as well as the absolute errors in the overlapping domain.In the second example,the complex Wannier flow with different Weissenberg numbers is further simulated by two improved SPH methods and coupling the improved SPH method and the dissipative particle dynamics(DPD)method.The numerical results show that the physical quantities for viscoelastic flows obtained by the presented multiscale method are in consistence with those obtained by a single solver in the overlapping domain.Moreover,transferring different physical quantities has an important effect on the numerical results.

Coupling of discrete-element method and smoothed particle hydrodynamics for liquid-solid flows

Particle based methods can be used for both the simulations of solid and fluid phases in multiphase medium, such as the discrete-element method for solid phase and the smoothed particle hydrodynamics for fluid phase. This paper presents a computational method combining these two methods for solid-liquid medium. The two phases are coupled by using an improved model from a reported Lagrangian-Eulerian method. The technique is verified by simulating liquid-solid flows in a two-dimensional lid-driven cavity.

Numerical Simulation of Bubble Formation at a Single Orifice in Gas-fluidized Beds with Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics and Finite Volume Coupled Method

A coupled method describing gas–solid two-phase flow has been proposed to numerically study the bubble formation at a single orifice in gas-fluidized beds.Solid particles are traced with smoothed particle hydrodynamics,whereas gas phase is discretized by finite volume method.Drag force,gas pressure gradient,and volume fraction are used to couple the two methods.The effect of injection velocities,particle sizes,and particle densities on bubble growth is analyzed using the coupled method.The simulation results,obtained for two-dimensional geometries,include the shape and diameter size of a bubble as a function of time;such results are compared with experimental data,previous numerical results,and other approximate model predictions reported in the literature.Moreover,the flow profiles of gas and particle phases and the temperature distribution by the heat transfer model around the forming bubble are also discussed.All results show that the coupled method efficiently describes of the bubble formation in fluidized beds.The proposed method is applicable for solving gas–solid two-phase flow in fluidization.

Static and free vibration analyses of functionally graded porous variable-thickness plates using an edge-based smoothed finite element method

The main purpose of this paper is to present numerical results of static bending and free vibration of functionally graded porous(FGP) variable-thickness plates by using an edge-based smoothed finite element method(ES-FEM) associate with the mixed interpolation of tensorial components technique for the three-node triangular element(MITC3), so-called ES-MITC3. This ES-MITC3 element is performed to eliminate the shear locking problem and to enhance the accuracy of the existing MITC3 element. In the ES-MITC3 element, the stiffness matrices are obtained by using the strain smoothing technique over the smoothing domains formed by two adjacent MITC3 triangular elements sharing an edge. Materials of the plate are FGP with a power-law index(k) and maximum porosity distributions(U) in the forms of cosine functions. The influences of some geometric parameters, material properties on static bending, and natural frequency of the FGP variable-thickness plates are examined in detail.

The use of the node-based smoothed finite element method to estimate static and seismic bearing capacities of shallow strip footings

The node-based smoothed finite element method(NS-FEM)is shortly presented for calculations of the static and seismic bearing capacities of shallow strip footings.A series of computations has been performed to assess variations in seismic bearing capacity factors with both horizontal and vertical seismic accelerations.Numerical results obtained agree very well with those using the slip-line method,revealing that the magnitude of the seismic bearing capacity is highly dependent upon the combinations of various directions of both components of the seismic acceleration.An upward vertical seismic acceleration reduces the seismic bearing capacity compared to the downward vertical seismic acceleration in calculations.In addition,particular emphasis is placed on a separate estimation of the effects of soil and superstructure inertia on each seismic bearing capacity component.While the effect of inertia forces arising in the soil on the seismic bearing capacity is non-trivial,and the superstructure inertia is the major contributor to reductions in the seismic bearing capacity.Both tables and charts are given for practical application to the seismic design of the foundations.

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.

Bubble-Enriched Smoothed Finite Element Methods for Nearly-Incompressible Solids

This work presents a locking-free smoothed finite element method(S-FEM)for the simulation of soft matter modelled by the equations of quasi-incompressible hyperelasticity.The proposed method overcomes well-known issues of standard finite element methods(FEM)in the incompressible limit:the over-estimation of stiffness and sensitivity to severely distorted meshes.The concepts of cell-based,edge-based and node-based S-FEMs are extended in this paper to three-dimensions.Additionally,a cubic bubble function is utilized to improve accuracy and stability.For the bubble function,an additional displacement degree of freedom is added at the centroid of the element.Several numerical studies are performed demonstrating the stability and validity of the proposed approach.The obtained results are compared with standard FEM and with analytical solutions to show the effectiveness of the method.

A Cell-Based Linear Smoothed Finite Element Method for Polygonal Topology Optimization

The aim of this work is to employ a modified cell-based smoothed finite element method(S-FEM)for topology optimization with the domain discretized with arbitrary polygons.In the present work,the linear polynomial basis function is used as the weight function instead of the constant weight function used in the standard S-FEM.This improves the accuracy and yields an optimal convergence rate.The gradients are smoothed over each smoothing domain,then used to compute the stiffness matrix.Within the proposed scheme,an optimum topology procedure is conducted over the smoothing domains.Structural materials are distributed over each smoothing domain and the filtering scheme relies on the smoothing domain.Numerical tests are carried out to pursue the performance of the proposed optimization by comparing convergence,efficiency and accuracy.

A Smoothed Finite Element Method for the Static and Free Vibration Analysis of Shells

A four-node quadrilateral shell element with smoothed membrane-bending based on Mindlin-Reissner theory is proposed. The element is a combination of a plate bending and membrane element. It is based on mixed interpolation where the bending and membrane stiffness matrices are calculated on the boundaries of the smoothing cells while the shear terms are approximated by independent interpolation functions in natural coordinates. The proposed element is robust, computationally inexpensive and free of locking. Since the integration is done on the element boundaries for the bending and membrane terms, the element is more accurate than the MITC4 element for distorted meshes. This will be demonstrated for several numerical examples.

Simulation of mould filling process using smoothed particle hydrodynamics

The implementation of high pressure die casting （HPDC） filling process modeling based on smoothed particle hydrodynamics （SPH） was discussed. A new treatment of inlet boundary was established by discriminating fluid particles from inlet particles. The roles of artificial viscosity and moving least squares method in the present model were compared in the handling pressure oscillation. The final model was substantiated by simulating filling process in HPDC in both two and three dimensions. The simulated results from SPH and finite difference method （FDM） were compared with the experiments. The results show the former is in a better agreement with experiments. It demonstrates the efficiency and precision of this SPH model in describing flow pattern in filling process.

A reconstructed edge-based smoothed DSG element based on global coordinates for analysis of Reissner–Mindlin plates

A reconstructed edge-based smoothed triangular element, which is incorporated with the discrete shear gap (DSG) method, is formulated based on the global coordinate for analysis of Reissner-Mindlin plates. A symbolic integration combined with the smoothing technique is implemented to calculate the smoothed finite element matrices, which is integrated along the boundaries of each smoothing cell. Numerical results show that the proposed element is free from shear locking, and its results are in good agreement with the exact solutions, even for very thin plates with extremely distorted elements. The proposed element gives more accurate results than the original DSG element without smoothing, and it can be taken as an alternative element for analysis of Reissner-Mindlin plates. The prominent feature of the present element is that the integration scheme is unified in the smoothed form for all of the finite element matrices.

Quasi-static simulation of droplet morphologies using a smoothed particle hydrodynamics multiphase model

Numerical simulation of the morphology of a droplet deposited on a solid surface requires an efficient description of the three-phase contact line. In this study, a simple method of implementing the contact angle is proposed, combined with a robust smoothed particle hydrodynamics multiphase algorithm (Zhang 2015). The first step of the method is the creation of the virtual liquid-gas interface across the solid surface by means of dummy particles, thus the calculated surface tension near the triple point serves to automatically modulate the dynarnic contact line towards the equilibrium state. We simulate the evolution process of initially square liquid lumps on fiat and curved surfaces. The predictions of droplet profiles are in good agreement with the analytical solutions provided that the macroscopic contact angle is accurately implemented. Compared to the normal correction method, the present method is straightforward without the need to manually alter the normal vectors. This study presents a robust algorithm capable of capturing the physics of the static welling. It may hold great potentials in bio-inspired superhydrophobic surfaces, oil displacement, microfluidics, ore floatation, etc.

Numerical Simulation of Dam Breaking Using Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics and Viscosity Behavior

Smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) is a Lagrangian meshless particle method. It is one of the best method for simulating violent free surface flows in fluids and solving large fluid deformations. Dam breaking is a typical example of these problems. The basis of SPH was reviewed, including some techniques for governing equation resolution, such as the stepping method and the boundary handling method. Then numerical results of a dam breaking simulation were discussed, and the benefits of concepts like artificial viscosity and position correction were analyzed in detail. When compared with dam breaking simulated by the volume of fluid (VOF) method, the wave profile generated by SPH had good agreement, but the pressure had only reasonable agreement. Improving pressure results is clearly an important next step for research.

Research on Comparison and Evaluation Studies of Several Smoothing Denoising Method Based on γ-ray Spectrum Detector

The extraction of spectral parameters is very difficult because of the limited energy resolution for NaI （TI） gamma-ray detectors. For statistical fluctuation of radioactivity under complex environment, some smoothing filtering methods are proposed to solve the problem. These methods include adopting method of arithmetic moving average, center of gravity, least squares of polynomial, slide converter of discrete funcion convolution etc. The process of spectrum data is realized, and the results are assessed in H/FWHM（ Peak High/Full Width at Half Maximum） and peak area based on the Matlab programming. The results indicate that different methods smoothed spectrum have respective superiority in different ergoregion, but the Gaussian function theory in discrete function convolution slide method is used to filter the complex y-spectrum on Embedded system nlatform, and the statistical fluctuation of y-snectrum filtered wall.

A Smoothing Newton Method for the Box Constrained Variational Inequality Problems

The box constrained variational inequality problem can be reformulated as a nonsmooth equation by using median operator.In this paper,we present a smoothing Newton method for solving the box constrained variational inequality problem based on a new smoothing approximation function.The proposed algorithm is proved to be well defined and convergent globally under weaker conditions.

A Smoothing SAA Method for a Stochastic Linear Complementarity Problem

Utilizing the well-known aggregation technique, we propose a smoothing sample average approximation （SAA） method for a stochastic linear complementarity problem, where the underlying functions are represented by expectations of stochastic functions. The method is proved to be convergent and the preliminary numerical results are reported.

A Smoothing Penalty Function Method for the Constrained Optimization Problem

In this paper, an approximate smoothing approach to the non-differentiable exact penalty function is proposed for the constrained optimization problem. A simple smoothed penalty algorithm is given, and its convergence is discussed. A practical algorithm to compute approximate optimal solution is given as well as computational experiments to demonstrate its efficiency.

An Enhanced Steepest Descent Method for Global Optimization-Based Mesh Smoothing

In order to speed up the global optimization-based mesh smoothing, an enhanced steepest descent method is presented in the paper. Numerical experiment results show that the method performs better than the steepest descent method in the global smoothing. We also presented a physically-based interpretation to explain why the method works better than the steepest descent method.

Numerical analysis of submarine landslides using a smoothed particle hydrodynamics depth integral model

Submarine landslides can cause severe damage to marine engineering structures. Their sliding velocity and runout distance are two major parameters for quantifying and analyzing the risk of submarine landslides.Currently, commercial calculation programs such as BING have limitations in simulating underwater soil movements. All of these processes can be consistently simulated through a smoothed particle hydrodynamics（SPH） depth integrated model. The basis of the model is a control equation that was developed to take into account the effects of soil consolidation and erosion. In this work, the frictional rheological mode has been used to perform a simulation study of submarine landslides. Time-history curves of the sliding body＇s velocity, height,and length under various conditions of water depth, slope gradient, contact friction coefficient, and erosion rate are compared; the maximum sliding distance and velocity are calculated; and patterns of variation are discussed.The findings of this study can provide a reference for disaster warnings and pipeline route selection.