A mixed elasticity formulation for fluid-poroelastic structure interaction

We develop a mixed finite element method for the coupled problem arising in the interaction between a free fluid governed by the Stokes equations and flow in deformable porous medium modeled by the Biot system of poroelasticity. Mass conservation, balance of stress, and the Beavers-Joseph-Saffman condition are imposed on the interface. We consider a fully mixed Biot formulation based on a weakly symmetric stress-displacement-rotation elasticity system and Darcy velocity-pressure flow formulation. A velocity-pressure formulation is used for the Stokes equations. The interface conditions are incorporated through the introduction of the traces of the structure velocity and the Darcy pressure as Lagrange multipliers. Existence and uniqueness of a solution are established for the continuous weak formulation. Stability and error estimates are derived for the semi-discrete continuous-in-time mixed finite element approximation. Numerical experiments are presented to verify the theoretical results and illustrate the robustness of the method with respect to the physical parameters.

2D electrostatic modeling of twisted pairs

Purpose This paper aims to model a three-dimensional twisted geometry of a twisted pair studied in an electrostatic approximation using only two-dimensional (2D) finite elements. Design/methodology/approach The proposed method is based on the reformulation of the weak formulation of the electrostatics problem to deal with twisted geometries only in 2D. Findings The method is based on a change of coordinates and enables a faster computational time as well as a high accuracy. Originality/value The effectiveness of the adopted approach is demonstrated by studying different configurations related to the IEC 60851-5 standard defined for the measurement of the electrical properties of the insulation of the winding wires used in electrical machines.

A geometrically nonlinear shear deformable beam model for piezoelectric energy harvesters

An electromechanical model for beam-like piezoelectric energy harvesters based on Reissner’s beam theory is developed in this paper. The proposed model captures first-order shear deformation and large displacement/rotation, which distinguishes this model from other models reported in the literature. All governing equations are presented in detail, making the associated framework extensible to investigate various piezoelectric energy harvesters. The weak formulation is then derived to obtain the approximate solution to the governing equations by the finite element method. This solution scheme is completely coupled, and thus allows for two-way interaction between mechanical and electrical fields. To validate this model, extensive numerical examples are implemented in the linear and nonlinear regime. In the linear limit, this model produces results in excellent agreement with reference data. In the nonlinear regime, the large amplitude response of the piezoelectric beam induced by strong base excitation or fluid flow is considered, and the comparison of results with literature data is encouraging. The ability of this nonlinear model to predict limit cycle oscillations in axial flow is demonstrated.

MPAS-Seaice (v1.0.0): Sea-ice dynamics on unstructured Voronoi meshes

We present MPAS-Seaice, a sea-ice model which uses the Model for Prediction Across Scales (MPAS) framework and Spherical Centroidal Voronoi Tessellation (SCVT) unstructured meshes. As well as SCVT meshes, MPAS-Seaice can run on the traditional quadrilateral grids used by sea-ice models such as CICE. The MPAS-Seaice velocity solver uses the Elastic-Viscous-Plastic (EVP) rheology, and the variational discretization of the internal stress divergence operator used by CICE, but adapted for the polygonal cells of MPAS meshes, or alternatively an integral (“weak”) formulation of the stress divergence operator. An incremental remapping advection scheme is used for mass and tracer transport. We validate these formulations with idealized test cases, both planar and on the sphere. The variational scheme displays lower errors than the weak formulation for the strain rate operator but higher errors for the stress divergence operator. The variational stress divergence operator displays increased errors around the pentagonal cells of a quasi-uniform mesh, which is ameliorated with an alternate formulation for the operator. MPAS-Seaice shares the sophisticated column physics and biogeochemistry of CICE, and when used with quadrilateral meshes can reproduce the results of CICE. We have used global simulations with realistic forcing to validate MPAS-Seaice against similar simulations with CICE and against observations. We find very similar results compared to CICE with differences explained by minor differences in implementation such as with interpolation between the primary and dual meshes at coastlines. We have assessed the computational performance of the model, which, because it is unstructured, runs 70 % as fast as CICE for a comparison quadrilateral simulation. The SCVT meshes used by MPAS-Seaice allow culling of equatorial model cells and flexibility in domain decomposition, improving model performance. MPAS-Seaice is the current sea-ice component of the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM).

H(curl2)-conforming quadrilateral spectral element method for quad-curl problems

In this paper, we propose an [Formula: see text]-conforming quadrilateral spectral element method to solve quad-curl problems. Starting with generalized Jacobi polynomials, we first introduce quasi-orthogonal polynomial systems for vector fields over rectangles. [Formula: see text]-conforming elements over arbitrary convex quadrilaterals are then constructed explicitly in a hierarchical pattern using the contravariant transform together with the bilinear mapping from the reference square onto each quadrilateral. It is worth noting that both the simplest rectangular and quadrilateral spectral elements possess only 8 degrees of freedom on each physical element. In the sequel, we propose our [Formula: see text]-conforming quadrilateral spectral element approximation based on the mixed weak formulation to solve the quad-curl equation and its eigenvalue problem. Numerical results show the effectiveness and efficiency of our method.

A Smoothing Scheme for Seismic Wave Propagation Simulation with a Mixed FEM of Diffusionized Wave Equation

In this paper, we propose a smoothing scheme for seismic wave propagation simulation. The proposed scheme is based on a diffusionized wave equation with the fourth-order spatial derivative term. So, the solution requires higher regularity in the usual weak formulation. Reducing the diffusionized wave equation to a coupled system of diffusion equations yields a mixed FEM to ease the regularity. We mathematically explain how our scheme works for smoothing. We construct a semi-implicit time integration scheme and apply it to the wave equation. This numerical experiment reveals that our scheme is effective for filtering short wavelength components in seismic wave propagation simulation.

Formulation and existence of weak solutions for a problem of adhesive contact with elastoplasticity and hardening

This paper presents the weak formulation of a quasi-static evolution model for two deformable bodies with uni-directional adhesive unilateral contact on which external loads act. Small deformations and linearized elastoplasticity with hardening are assumed. The adhesion component is rate-dependent or rate-independent according to the choice of the viscosity coefficient of the glue; elastoplasticity is considered rate-independent. The weak formulation is expressed as a doubly non-linear problem with unbounded multivalued operators, as a function of internal and boundary displacements, plastic and symmetric strain tensors, and the bonding field and its gradient. This paper differs from other formulations by coupling the equations defined inside and on the boundary of the solids in functional form. In addition to this novelty, we verify the existence of solutions by a path other than that displayed in similar articles. The existence of solutions is demonstrated after considering a succession of doubly non-linear problems with an unbounded operator, and verifying that the solution of one of the problems is also a solution to the objective problem. The proof is supported by previous results from non-linear Partial differential equations theory with monotone operators.

Stochastic Galerkin Reduced Basis Methods for Parametrized Linear Convection–Diffusion–Reaction Equations

We consider the estimation of parameter-dependent statistics of functional outputs of steady-state convection–diffusion–reaction equations with parametrized random and deterministic inputs in the framework of linear elliptic partial differential equations. For a given value of the deterministic parameter, a stochastic Galerkin finite element (SGFE) method can estimate the statistical moments of interest of a linear output at the cost of solving a single, large, block-structured linear system of equations. We propose a stochastic Galerkin reduced basis (SGRB) method as a means to lower the computational burden when statistical outputs are required for a large number of deterministic parameter queries. Our working assumption is that we have access to the computational resources necessary to set up such a reduced-order model for a spatial-stochastic weak formulation of the parameter-dependent model equations. In this scenario, the complexity of evaluating the SGRB model for a new value of the deterministic parameter only depends on the reduced dimension. To derive an SGRB model, we project the spatial-stochastic weak solution of a parameter-dependent SGFE model onto a reduced basis generated by a proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) of snapshots of SGFE solutions at representative values of the parameter. We propose residual-corrected estimates of the parameter-dependent expectation and variance of linear functional outputs and provide respective computable error bounds. We test the SGRB method numerically for a convection–diffusion–reaction problem, choosing the convective velocity as a deterministic parameter and the parametrized reactivity or diffusivity field as a random input. Compared to a standard reduced basis model embedded in a Monte Carlo sampling procedure, the SGRB model requires a similar number of reduced basis functions to meet a given tolerance requirement. However, only a single run of the SGRB model suffices to estimate a statistical output for a new deterministic parameter value, while the standard reduced basis model must be solved for each Monte Carlo sample.

Non-Isothermal Creeping Flows in a Pipeline Network: Existence Results

This paper deals with a 3D mathematical model for the non-isothermal steady-state flow of an incompressible fluid with temperature-dependent viscosity in a pipeline network. Using the pressure and heat flux boundary conditions, as well as the conjugation conditions to satisfy the mass balance in interior junctions of the network, we propose the weak formulation of the nonlinear boundary value problem that arises in the framework of this model. The main result of our work is an existence theorem (in the class of weak solutions) for large data. The proof of this theorem is based on a combination of the Galerkin approximation scheme with one result from the field of topological degrees for odd mappings defined on symmetric domains.

Geometrically exact, intrinsic mixed variational formulation for smart, slender multilink composite structures

Flexible links are often part of massive aerospace structures like helicopter or wind turbine blades, satellite bae, airplane wings, and space stations. In the present work, a mixed variational statement based on intrinsic variables is derived for multilinked smart slender structures. Equations involved in the derivation do not involve approximations of kinematical variables to describe the deformation of the reference line or the rotation of the deformed cross-section of the slender links resulting in a geometrically exact formulation. Finite element equations are derived from weak formulation, which can analyze large geometrically non-linear problems. The weakest possible variational statement provides greater flexibility in the choice of shape functions, therefore reducing the associated numerical complexities. The present work focuses on developing a single integrated computational platform which can study multibody, multilink, lightweight composite, structural system built with both embedded actuations, sensing, as well as passive links. Validation of static mechanical and electrical outputs from 3D FE simulation and literature proves the efficacy of the computational platform. Dynamic results will be communicated in future correspondence. The computational platform developed here can be applied for monitoring and active control applications of flexible smart multilink structures like swept wings, multi-bae space structures, and helicopter blades.