L. Nasdala¹, G. Ernst¹, M. Lengnick¹, H. Rothert¹

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.7, No.3, pp. 293-304, 2005, DOI:10.3970/cmes.2005.007.293

Abstract Like any other geometric structure or building, carbon nanotubes may break down due to either material failure or structural failure. In this paper, it is shown that the failure mechanism of carbon nanotubes not only depends on the type and direction of loading but also on the location and number of defects. For the finite element simulations we use a new 4-node finite element without rotational degrees of freedom based on the force field method. For the examples shown here, mainly a single-walled (10,10) armchair nanotube with different Stone-Wales defects, the material parameters are directly… More >

Haitao Wang¹, Zhenhan Yao¹

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.7, No.1, pp. 85-96, 2005, DOI:10.3970/cmes.2005.007.085

Abstract This paper addresses a new boundary element method (BEM) for the numerical analysis of mechanical properties in 3D particle-reinforced composites. The BEM is accelerated by a new version fast multipole method (FMM) in order to perform large scale simulation of a representative volume element (RVE) containing up to several hundred randomly distributed elastic spherical particles on only one personal computer. The maximum number of degrees of freedom (DOF) reaches more than 300,000. Efficiency of the developed new version fast multipole BEM code is evaluated compared with other conventional solutions for BEM. The effects of micro-structural More >

V. Sladek¹, J. Sladek¹, M. Tanaka²

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.7, No.1, pp. 69-84, 2005, DOI:10.3970/cmes.2005.007.069

Abstract An efficient numerical method is proposed for 2-d potential problems in anisotropic media with continuously variable material coefficients. The method is based on the local integral equations (utilizing a fundamental solution) and meshfree approximation of field variable. A lot of numerical experiments are carried out in order to study the numerical stability, accuracy, convergence and efficiency of several approaches utilizing various interpolations. More >

Muhammad H. Zaman¹

Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.2, No.4, pp. 179-190, 2005, DOI:10.3970/mcb.2005.002.179

Abstract We report the results of longest to date simulation on misfolding of monomeric human prion protein (HuPrP). By comparing our simulation of a partially unfolded protein to the simulation of the native protein, we observe that the native protein as well as native regions in the partially unfolded protein remain in the native state, and the unfolded regions fold back with increased extended (sheet and PP-II) conformations. The misfolded regions show increased basin hopping from non-helical basins while the amino acids locked in the helical conformation tend to stay locked in that conformation. Our results More >

Yunfa Zhang¹, Zihui Xia^1,2

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.2, No.3, pp. 213-226, 2005, DOI:10.3970/cmc.2005.002.213

Abstract In the present study, the initiation and evolution of the interphase damage and their influences on the global stress-strain relation of composite laminates are predicted by finite element analysis on a micromechanical unit cell model. A thin layer of interphase elements is introduced and its stress-strain relation is derived based on a cohesive law which describes both normal and tangential separations at the interface between the fiber and matrix. In addition, a viscous term is added to the cohesive law to overcome the convergence difficulty induced by the so-called snap-back instability in the numerical analysis. More >

C. Shu^1,2, W. X. Wu², C. M. Wang³

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.2, No.3, pp. 189-200, 2005, DOI:10.3970/cmc.2005.002.189

Abstract This paper demonstrates the application of a meshfree least square-based finite difference (LSFD) method for analysis of metallic waveguides. The waveguide problem is an eigenvalue problem that is governed by the Helmholtz equation. The second order derivatives in the Helmholtz equation are explicitly approximated by the LSFD formulations. TM modes and TE modes are calculated for some metallic waveguides with different cross-sectional shapes. Numerical examples show that the LSFD method is a very efficient meshfree method for waveguide analysis with complex domains. More >

S.Yu. Reutskiy¹

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.2, No.3, pp. 177-188, 2005, DOI:10.3970/cmc.2005.002.177

Abstract In this paper a new meshless method for eigenproblems with Laplace and biharmonic operators in simply and multiply connected domains is presented. The solution of an eigenvalue problem is reduced to a sequence of inhomogeneous problems with the differential operator studied. These problems are solved using the method of fundamental solutions. The method presented shows a high precision in simply and multiply connected domains. The results of the numerical experiments justifying the method are presented. More >

D.S. Liu^1,2 , C.Y. Chen² , D.Y. Chiou³

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.9, No.2, pp. 179-192, 2005, DOI:10.3970/cmes.2005.009.179

Abstract A three-dimensional heterogeneous infinite element method (HIEM) for modeling inclusions with interphases in composite materials is presented. This special element is formulated based on the conventional finite element method (FEM) using the similarity stiffness property and matrix condensation operations. An HIE-FE coupling scheme is also developed and implemented using the commercial software ABAQUS to conduct the elastostatic analysis. The proposed approach was validated first to study heterogeneous material containing one spherical inclusion. The displacement and stress variations around the inclusion vicinity are verified against conventional FEM. The proposed approach was next applied to analyze the effective More >

N.I. Wakayama¹, D.C. Yin², J.W. Qi³

FDMP-Fluid Dynamics & Materials Processing, Vol.1, No.2, pp. 153-170, 2005, DOI:10.3970/fdmp.2005.001.153

Abstract The production of crystals of adequate size and high quality is the "bottleneck'' for three-dimensional structure analysis of protein crystals. In this work, in order to shed additional light on the (still controversial) beneficial effect of microgravity on crystal growth, we focus on recent advanced experimental and theoretical research about the effects of buoyancy-driven convection on protein crystallization. In the light of the numerical studies the following major outcomes can be highlighted: (1) when the crystal size exceeds several dozens of µm, buoyancy-driven convection dominates solute transport near the growing crystal and the crystal growth rate… More >

Carlos J. S. Alves, Pedro R. S. Antunes¹

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.2, No.4, pp. 251-266, 2005, DOI:10.3970/cmc.2005.002.251

Abstract In this work we show the application of the Method of Fundamental Solutions(MFS) in the determination of eigenfrequencies and eigenmodes associated to wave scattering problems. This meshless method was already applied to simple geometry domains with Dirichlet boundary conditions (cf. Karageorghis (2001)) and to multiply connected domains (cf. Chen, Chang, Chen, and Chen (2005)). Here we show that a particular choice of point-sourcescan lead to very good results for a fairly general type of domains. Simulations with Neumann boundary conditionare also considered. More >