Z. Chen^1,2, Y. Gan¹, J.K. Chen²

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.26, No.2, pp. 123-138, 2008, DOI:10.3970/cmes.2008.026.123

Abstract A coupled thermo-mechanical constitutive model with decohesion is proposed to simulate the material failure evolution due to localized heating. A discontinuous bifurcation analysis is performed based on a thermoviscoplasticity relation to identify the transition from continuous to discontinuous failure modes as well as the orientation of the discontinuous failure. The thermo-mechanical model is then implemented within the framework of the Material Point Method (MPM) so that the different gradient and divergence operators in the governing differential equations could be discretized in a single computational domain and that continuous remeshing is not required with the evolution More >

Kai Wang¹, Shenjie Zhou^1,2, Zhifeng Nie¹, Shengli Kong¹

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.26, No.2, pp. 107-122, 2008, DOI:10.3970/cmes.2008.026.107

Abstract The natural neighbour Petrov-Galerkin method (NNPG) is one of the special cases of the generalized meshless local Petrov-Galerkin method (MLPG). This paper demonstrates the NNPG can be successfully used in design sensitivity analysis in 2D elasticity. The design sensitivity analysis method based on the local weak form (DSA-LWF) in the NNPG context is proposed. In the DSA-LWF, the local weak form of governing equation is directly differentiated with respect to design variables and discretized with NNPG to obtain the sensitivities of structural responds. The calculation of derivatives of shape functions with respect to design variables More >

Shu Li¹, S. N. Atluri²

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.26, No.1, pp. 61-74, 2008, DOI:10.3970/cmes.2008.026.061

Abstract The Meshless Local Petrov-Galerkin (MLPG) "mixed collocation'' method is applied to the problem of topology-optimization of elastic structures. In this paper, the topic of compliance minimization of elastic structures is pursued, and nodal design variables which represent nodal volume fractions at discretized nodes are adopted. A so-called nodal sensitivity filter is employed, to prevent the phenomenon of checkerboarding in numerical solutions to the topology-optimization problems. The example results presented in the paper demonstrate the suitability and versatility of the MLPG "mixed collocation'' method, in implementing structural topology-optimization. More >

Amit Shaw¹, B. Banerjee¹, D Roy^1,2

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.26, No.1, pp. 31-60, 2008, DOI:10.3970/cmes.2008.026.031

Abstract A generalization of a NURBS based parametric mesh-free method (NPMM), recently proposed by Shaw and Roy (2008), is considered. A key feature of this parametric formulation is a geometric map that provides a local bijection between the physical domain and a rectangular parametric domain. This enables constructions of shape functions and their derivatives over the parametric domain whilst satisfying polynomial reproduction and interpolation properties over the (non-rectangular) physical domain. Hence the NPMM enables higher-dimensional B-spline based functional approximations over non-rectangular domains even as the NURBS basis functions are constructed via the usual tensor products of… More >

Jin-Ho Roh¹, In Lee²

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.26, No.1, pp. 13-30, 2008, DOI:10.3970/cmes.2008.026.013

Abstract A methodology to maintain the configuration of inflated membrane structures using shape memory alloy (SMA) film actuator is numerically investigated. The two- dimensional incremental formulation of the SMA constitutive model is developed. New parameters related to the thermodynamic energy equation are introduced to describe more general behaviors of the SMA film. With numerical algorithm of wrinkling and SMAs, the interactions between the inflated membrane structure and the SMA film are investigated by using a finite element program. The effectiveness of SMA film to control the configuration of an inflated membrane structure is examined. To demonstrate More >

Tienfuan Kerh^1,2, J.S. Lai¹, D. Gunaratnam², R. Saunders²

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.26, No.1, pp. 1-12, 2008, DOI:10.3970/cmes.2008.026.001

Abstract Taiwan frequently suffers from strong ground motion, and the current building code is essentially based on two seismic zones, A and B. The design value of horizontal acceleration for zone A is 0.33g, and the value for zone B is 0.23g. To check the suitability of these values, a series of actual earthquake records are considered for evaluating peak ground acceleration (PGA) for each of the zones by using neural network models. The input parameters are magnitude, epicenter distance, and focal depth for each of the checking stations, and the peak ground acceleration is calculated… More >

G. Kosec¹, B. Šarler¹

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.25, No.3, pp. 197-208, 2008, DOI:10.3970/cmes.2008.025.197

Abstract This paper explores the application of the mesh-free Local Radial Basis Function Collocation Method (LRBFCM) in solution of coupled heat transfer and fluid flow problems in Darcy porous media. The involved temperature, velocity and pressure fields are represented on overlapping sub-domains through collocation by using multiquadrics Radial Basis Functions (RBF). The involved first and second derivatives of the fields are calculated from the respective derivatives of the RBF's. The energy and momentum equations are solved through explicit time stepping. The pressure-velocity coupling is calculated iteratively, with pressure correction, predicted from the local continuity equation violation.… More >

L.K. Keppas¹, G.I. Giannopoulos¹, N.K. Anifantis¹

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.25, No.3, pp. 181-196, 2008, DOI:10.3970/cmes.2008.025.181

Abstract In the present paper a boundary element procedure is formulated to treat two-dimensional time dependent thermo-elastic contact problems incorporating thermal resistance along the contacting surfaces. The existence of pressure-dependent thermal contact leads to coupling of temperature and stress fields. Therefore, the inherent non-linearity of the problem demands simultaneous treating of both thermal and mechanical boundary integral equations while iterative procedures are introduced to ensure equilibrium of mechanical and thermal contact conditions at each step of the process. The transient behavior of interfacial cracks in bimaterial solids when undergo thermal shock in the presence of partial More >

A. Sellier¹

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.25, No.3, pp. 165-180, 2008, DOI:10.3970/cmes.2008.025.165

Abstract The slow viscous and either imposed or gravity-driven migration of a solid arbitrarily-shaped particle suspended in a Newtonian liquid bounded by a spherical cavity is calculated using two different boundary element approaches. Each advocated method appeals to a few boundary-integral equations and, by contrast with previous works, also holds for non-spherical particles. The first procedure puts usual free-space Stokeslets on both the cavity and particle surfaces whilst the second one solely spreads specific Stokeslets obtained elsewhere in Oseen (1927) on the particle's boundary. Each approach receives a numerical implementation which is found to be in More >

Wenzhong Tang¹, Suresh G. Advani¹

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.25, No.3, pp. 149-164, 2008, DOI:10.3970/cmes.2008.025.149

Abstract In this paper, a method for studying nanotube dynamics in simple shear flow was developed. A nanotube was described as a flexible fiber with a sphere-chain model. The forces on the nanotube were obtained by molecular dynamics simulations. The motion of the nanotube in simple shear flow was tracked by the flexible fiber dynamics method [Tang and Advani (2005)]. The viscosity of dilute nanotube suspensions was calculated based on the nanotube dynamics, and the effects of the aspect ratio and initial curvature of the nanotube on suspension viscosity are explored and discussed. More >