Mixed finite element and differential quadrature method for free and forced vibration and buckling analysis of rectangular plates

This paper presents a combined application of the finite element method （FEM） and the differential quadrature method （DQM） to vibration and buckling problems of rectangular plates. The proposed scheme combines the geometry flexibility of the FEM and the high accuracy and efficiency of the DQM. The accuracy of the present method is demonstrated by comparing the obtained results with those available in the literature. It is shown that highly accurate results can be obtained by using a small number of finite elements and DQM sample points. The proposed method is suitable for the problems considered due to its simplicity and potential for further development.

Prolonged simulation of near-free surface underwater explosion based on Eulerian finite element method

n the area of naval architecture and ocean engineering,the research about the underwater xplosion problem is of great significance.To achieve prolonged simulation of near-free surface underwater explosion,the underwater explosion transient numerical model is established in this paper based on compressible Eulerian finite element method(EFEM).Compared with Geers Hunter formula,EFEM is availably validated by simulating the free-field underwater xplosion case.Then,the bubble pulsation and flow field dynamic characteristics of the cases with different underwater explosive depth are compared in this work.Lastly,the height of the water hump and the pressure of flow flied are analyzed quantitatively through the simulation results.

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.

Element-free Galerkin method for free vibration of rectangular plates with interior elastic point supports and elastically restrained edges

The element-free Galerkin method is proposed to solve free vibration of rectangular plates with finite interior elastic point supports and elastically restrained edges.Based on the extended Hamilton＇s principle for the elastic dynamics system,the dimensionless equations of motion of rectangular plates with finite interior elastic point supports and the edge elastically restrained are established using the element-free Galerkin method.Through numerical calculation,curves of the natural frequency of thin plates with three edges simply supported and one edge elastically restrained,and three edges clamped and the other edge elastically restrained versus the spring constant,locations of elastic point support and the elastic stiffness of edge elastically restrained are obtained.Effects of elastic point supports and edge elastically restrained on the free vibration characteristics of the thin plates are analyzed.

Buckling analysis of super-long rock-socketed filling piles in soft soil area by element free Galerkin method

In order to discuss the buckling stability of super-long rock-socketed filling piles widely used in bridge engineering in soft soil area such as Dongting Lake, the second stability type was adopted instead of traditional first type, and a newly invented numerical analysis method, i.e. the element-free Galerkin method (EFGM), was introduced to consider the non-concordant deformation and nonlinearity of the pile-soil interface. Then, based on the nonlinear elastic-ideal plastic pile-soil interface model, a nonlinear iterative algorithm was given to analyze the pile-soil interaction, and a program for buckling analysis of piles by the EFGM (PBAP-EFGM) and arc length method was worked out as well. The application results in an engineering example show that, the shape of pile top load-settlement curve obtained by the program agrees well with the measured one, of which the difference may be caused mainly by those uncertain factors such as possible initial defects of pile shaft and the eccentric loading during the test process. However, the calculated critical load is very close with the measured ultimate load of the test pile, and the corresponding relative error is only 5.6%, far better than the calculated values by linear and nonlinear incremental buckling analysis (with a greater relative error of 37.0% and 15.4% respectively), which also verifies the rationality and feasibility of the present method.

An improved interpolating element-free Galerkin method with a nonsingular weight function for two-dimensional potential problems

In this paper, an improved interpolating moving least-square （IIMLS） method is presented. The shape function of the IIMLS method satisfies the property of the Kronecker 5 function. The weight function used in the IIMLS method is nonsingular. Then the IIMLS method can overcome the difficulties caused by the singularity of the weight function in the IMLS method. The number of unknown coefficients in the trial function of the IIMLS method is less than that of the moving least-square （MLS） approximation. Then by combining the IIMLS method with the Galerkin weak form of the potential problem, the improved interpolating element-free Galerkin （IIEFG） method for two-dimensional potential problems is presented. Compared with the conventional element-free Galerkin （EFG） method, the IIEFG method can directly use the essential boundary conditions. Then the IIEFG method has higher accuracy. For demonstration, three numerical examples are solved using the IIEFG method.

The dimension split element-free Galerkin method for three-dimensional potential problems

This paper presents the dimension split element-free Galerkin （DSEFG） method for three-dimensional potential problems, and the corresponding formulae are obtained. The main idea of the DSEFG method is that a three-dimensional potential problem can be transformed into a series of two-dimensional problems. For these two-dimensional problems, the improved moving least-squares （IMLS） approximation is applied to construct the shape function, which uses an orthogonal function system with a weight function as the basis functions. The Galerkin weak form is applied to obtain a discretized system equation, and the penalty method is employed to impose the essential boundary condition. The finite difference method is selected in the splitting direction. For the purposes of demonstration, some selected numerical examples are solved using the DSEFG method. The convergence study and error analysis of the DSEFG method are presented. The numerical examples show that the DSEFG method has greater computational precision and computational efficiency than the IEFG method.

An improved boundary element-free method (IBEFM) for two-dimensional potential problems

The interpolating moving least-squares （IMLS） method is discussed first in this paper. And the formulae of the IMLS method obtained by Lancaster are revised. Then on the basis of the boundary element-free method （BEFM）, combining the boundary integral equation （BIE） method with the IMLS method, the improved boundary element-free method （IBEFM） for two-dimensional potential problems is presented, and the corresponding formulae of the IBEFM are obtained. In the BEFM, boundary conditions are applied directly, but the shape function in the MLS does not satisfy the property of the Kronecker ~ function. This is a problem of the BEFM, and must be solved theoretically. In the IMLS method, when the shape function satisfies the property of the Kronecker 5 function, then the boundary conditions, in the meshless method based on the IMLS method, can be applied directly. Then the IBEFM, based on the IMLS method, is a direct meshless boundary integral equation method in which the basic unknown quantity is the real solution of the nodal variables, and the boundary conditions can be applied directly and easily, thus it gives a greater computational precision. Some numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the method.

Adaptive element free Galerkin method applied to analysis of earthquake induced liquefaction

An automatically adaptive element free method is presented to analyze the seismic response of liquefiable soils. The method is based on the element free Galerkin method （EFGM） and the fission procedure that is part of h-refinement, indicated by error estimation. In the proposed method, a posteriori error estimate procedure that depends on the energy norm of stress and the T-Belytschko （TB） stress recovery scheme is incorporated. The effective cyclic elasto-plastic constitutive model is used to describe the nonlinear behavior of the saturated soil. The governing equations are established by u-p formulation. The proposed method can effectively avoid the volumetric locking due to large deformation that usually occurs in numerical computations using the finite element method （FEM）. The efficiency of the proposed method is demonstrated by evaluating the seismic response of an embankment and comparing it to results obtained through FEM. It is shown that the proposed method provides an accurate seismic analysis of saturated soil that includes the effects of liquefaction .

Element-free Galerkin (EFG) method for a kind of two-dimensional linear hyperbolic equation

The present paper deals with the numerical solution of a two-dimensional linear hyperbolic equation by using the element-free Galerkin （EFG） method which is based on the moving least-square approximation for the test and trial functions. A variational method is used to obtain the discrete equations, and the essential boundary conditions are enforced by the penalty method. Compared with numerical methods based on mesh, the EFG method for hyperbolic problems needs only the scattered nodes instead of meshing the domain of the problem. It neither requires any element connectivity nor suffers much degradation in accuracy when nodal arrangements are very irregular. The effectiveness of the EFG method for two-dimensional hyperbolic problems is investigated by two numerical examples in this paper.

Meshless analysis of an improved element-free Galerkin method for linear and nonlinear elliptic problems

We first give a stabilized improved moving least squares （IMLS） approximation, which has better computational stability and precision than the IMLS approximation. Then, analysis of the improved element-free Galerkin method is provided theoretically for both linear and nonlinear elliptic boundary value problems. Finally, numerical examples are given to verify the theoretical analysis.

Topology optimization using the improved element-free Galerkin method for elasticity

The improved element-free Galerkin （IEFG） method of elasticity is used to solve the topology optimization problems. In this method, the improved moving least-squares approximation is used to form the shape function. In a topology opti- mization process, the entire structure volume is considered as the constraint. From the solid isotropic microstructures with penalization, we select relative node density as a design variable. Then we choose the minimization of compliance to be an objective function, and compute its sensitivity with the adjoint method. The IEFG method in this paper can overcome the disadvantages of the singular matrices that sometimes appear in conventional element-free Galerkin （EFG） method. The central processing unit （CPU） time of each example is given to show that the IEFG method is more efficient than the EFG method under the same precision, and the advantage that the IEFG method does not form singular matrices is also shown.

Analysis of elastoplasticity problems using an improved complex variable element-free Galerkin method

In this paper, based on the conjugate of the complex basis function, a new complex variable moving least-squares approximation is discussed. Then using the new approximation to obtain the shape function, an improved complex variable element-free Galerkin（ICVEFG） method is presented for two-dimensional（2D） elastoplasticity problems. Compared with the previous complex variable moving least-squares approximation, the new approximation has greater computational precision and efficiency. Using the penalty method to apply the essential boundary conditions, and using the constrained Galerkin weak form of 2D elastoplasticity to obtain the system equations, we obtain the corresponding formulae of the ICVEFG method for 2D elastoplasticity. Three selected numerical examples are presented using the ICVEFG method to show that the ICVEFG method has the advantages such as greater precision and computational efficiency over the conventional meshless methods.

An improved complex variable element-free Galerkin method for two-dimensional elasticity problems

In this paper, the improved complex variable moving least-squares （ICVMLS） approximation is presented. The ICVMLS approximation has an explicit physics meaning. Compared with the complex variable moving least-squares （CVMLS） approximations presented by Cheng and Ren, the ICVMLS approximation has a great computational precision and efficiency. Based on the element-free Galerkin （EFG） method and the ICVMLS approximation, the improved complex variable element-free Galerkin （ICVEFG） method is presented for two-dimensional elasticity problems, and the corresponding formulae are obtained. Compared with the conventional EFC method, the ICVEFG method has a great computational accuracy and efficiency. For the purpose of demonstration, three selected numerical examples are solved using the ICVEFG method.

A new complex variable element-free Galerkin method for two-dimensional potential problems

In this paper, based on the element-free Galerkin （EFG） method and the improved complex variable moving least- square （ICVMLS） approximation, a new meshless method, which is the improved complex variable element-free Galerkin （ICVEFG） method for two-dimensional potential problems, is presented. In the method, the integral weak form of control equations is employed, and the Lagrange multiplier is used to apply the essential boundary conditions. Then the corresponding formulas of the ICVEFG method for two-dimensional potential problems are obtained. Compared with the complex variable moving least-square （CVMLS） approximation proposed by Cheng, the functional in the ICVMLS approximation has an explicit physical meaning. Furthermore, the ICVEFG method has greater computational precision and efficiency. Three numerical examples are given to show the validity of the proposed method.

The improved element-free Galerkin method forthree-dimensional wave equation

The paper presents the improved element-free Galerkin （IEFG） method for three-dimensional wave propa- gation. The improved moving least-squares （IMLS） approx- imation is employed to construct the shape function, which uses an orthogonal function system with a weight function as the basis function. Compared with the conventional moving least-squares （MLS） approximation, the algebraic equation system in the IMLS approximation is not ill-conditioned, and can be solved directly without deriving the inverse matrix. Because there are fewer coefficients in the IMLS than in the MLS approximation, fewer nodes are selected in the IEFG method than in the element-free Galerkin method. Thus, the IEFG method has a higher computing speed. In the IEFG method, the Galerkin weak form is employed to obtain a dis- cretized system equation, and the penalty method is applied to impose the essential boundary condition. The traditional difference method for two-point boundary value problems is selected for the time discretization. As the wave equations and the boundary-initial conditions depend on time, the scal- ing parameter, number of nodes and the time step length are considered for the convergence study.

An improved interpolating element-free Galerkin method for elasticity

Based on the improved interpolating moving least-squares （ⅡMLS） method and the Galerkin weak form, an improved interpolating element-free Galerkin （ⅡEFG） method is presented for two-dimensional elasticity problems in this paper. Compared with the interpolating moving least-squares （IMLS） method presented by Lancaster, the ⅡMLS method uses the nonsingular weight function. The number of unknown coefficients in the trial function of the ⅡMLS method is less than that of the MLS approximation and the shape function of the ⅡMLS method satisfies the property of Kronecker δ function. Thus in the ⅡEFG method, the essential boundary conditions can be applied directly and easily, then the numerical solutions can be obtained with higher precision than those obtained by the interpolating element-free Galerkin （IEFG） method. For the purposes of demonstration, four numerical examples are solved using the ⅡEFG method.

Isoparametric Boundary Element Method Applied to the Rectangular and Delta Hydrofoils near the Free Surface

In this paper, the hydrodynamic characteristics and flow field around rectangular and delta hydrofoils, moving with a constant speed beneath the free surface are numerically studied by means of isoparametric boundary element method （IBEM）. The quantities （source and dipole strengths） and the geometry of the dements are represented by a linear distribution. Two types of three-dimensional hydrofoils （rectangular and delta） are selected with NACA4412 and symmetric Joukowski sections. Some numerical results of pressure distribution, lift, wave-making drag coefficients and velocity field around the hydrofoils are presented. Also, the wave pattern due to moving hydrofoil is predicted at different operational conditions. Comparisons are made between computational results obtained through this method and those from the experimental measurements and other numerical results which reveal good agreement.

Element Free Gelerkin Method for 2-D Potential Problems

A meshfree method namely, element free Gelerkin (EFG) method, is presented in this paper for the solution of governing equations of 2-D potential problems. The EFG method is a numerical method which uses nodal points in order to discretize the computational domain, but where the use of connectivity is absent. The unknowns in the problems are approximated by means of connectivity-free technique known as moving least squares (MLS) approximation. The effect of irregular distribution of nodal points on the accuracy of the EFG method is the main goal of this paper as a complement to the precedent researches investigated by proposing an irregularity index (II) in order to analyze some 2-D benchmark examples and the results of sensitivity analysis on the parameters of the method are presented.

NEW ALGORITHM OF COUPLING ELEMENT-FREE GALERKIN WITH FINITE ELEMENT METHOD

Through the construction of a new ramp function, the element-flee Galerkin method and finite element coupling method were applied to the whole field, and was made fit for the structure of element nodes within the interface regions, both satisfying the essential boundary conditions and deploying meshless nodes and finite elements in a convenient and flexible way, which can meet the requirements of computation for complicated field. The comparison between the results of the present study and the corresponding analytical solutions shows this method is feasible and effective.