Abstract

En esta tesis se describe el desarrollo e implementación de un sistema informático para el tratamiento de toda la información necesaria para un análisis por el Método de los Elementos Finitos o por otros métodos numéricos (diferencias finitas, volúmenes finitos, métodos de contorno, métodos de puntos, etc.).Algunas de sus partes se refieren principalmente al diseño y organización de un sistema de estas características. En otras, se describen los nuevos algoritmos que ha sido necesario desarrollar para cumplir los objetivos propuestos.Las diversas disciplinas que se describen a lo largo de la tesis se pueden diferenciar en:* Organización del sistema. Consiste en definir el tratamiento de todos los datos de un análisis genérico de manera uniforme. También se dan criterios sobre el ordenamiento interno de los datos.* Modelación geométrica. Se presenta una serie de algoritmos que se han desarrollado para tratar y modificar la geometría del modelo.* Generación de malla. Se describen diferentes técnicas y algoritmos para poder realizar la generación de la malla.* Adaptabilidad del sistema a diferentes análisis. Se describe como se ha diseñado y como se realiza la adaptación del sistema a un código de análisis cualquiera.La implementación del conjunto de criterios y algoritmos descritos a lo largo de esta tesis, ha permitido la creación de un sistema que da soporte al proceso de análisis mediante métodos numéricos de modelos, tanto a nivel académico como industrial.

Abstract

Nowadays large part of the time needed to perform a numerical simulation is spent
in preprocessing, especially in the geometry cleaning operations and mesh generation.
Furthermore, these operations are not easy to automatize because they
depend strongly on each geometrical model and they often need human interaction.
Many of these operations are needed to obtain a watertight geometry. Even
with a clean geometry, classical unstructured meshing methods (like Delaunay or
Advancing Front based ones) present critical weak points like the need of a given
quality in the boundary mesh or a relatively smooth size transition. These aspects
decrease their robustness and imply an extra e ort in order to reach the nal mesh.
Octree based meshers try to relax some of these requirements.
In the present work an octree based mesher for unstructured tetrahedra is presented.
The proposed mesher ensures the mesh generation avoiding most of the
geometry cleaning operations. It is based in the following steps: t an octree
onto the model, re ne it following given criteria, apply a tetrahedra pattern to
the octree cells and adapt the tetrahedra close to the contours in order to represent
accurately the boundary shape. An important and innovative aspect of the
proposed algorithm is it ensures the nal mesh preserves the topology and the
geometric features of the original model.
The method uses a Ray Casting based algorithm for the identi cation of the inner
and outer parts of the volumes involved in the model. This technique allows the
mesh generation of volumes even with non-watertight boundaries, and also opens
the use of the mesher for immersed methods only applying slight modi cations to
the algorithm.
The main advantages of the presented mesher are: robustness, no need for watertight
boundaries, independent on the contour mesh quality, preservation of geometrical
features (corners and ridges), original geometric topology guaranteed,
accurate representation of the contours, valid for immersed methods, and fast performance.
A lot of time in the preprocessing part of the numerical simulation is
saved thanks to the robustness of the mesher, which allows skipping most of the
geometry cleaning operations.
A shared memory parallel implementation of the algorithm has been done. The
e ectiveness of the algorithm and its implementation has been veri ed by some
validation examples.

Abstract

A methodology for error estimation and mesh adaptation for finite element (FE) analysis of incompressible viscous flow is presented. The error estimation method is based on the evaluation of the energy rate (the power) of the FE residuals of the momentum and incompressibility equations. The residuals are computed using recovered values of the derivatives of the velocity and pressure variable obtained via a nodal derivative recovery technique. Two mesh adaptation procedures based on: a) the equi-distribution of the residual power among the elements in the mesh and b) the equi-distribution of the density of the total residual power are presented. The stabilized form of the Navier-Stokes equations using a finite calculus (FIC) formulation is solved with a fractional step FE scheme. This allows the use of linear triangles and tetrahedra with an equal order interpolation for the velocity and pressure variables. A nodal-based approach is used for computing the residual power integrals. The examples show the ability of the error estimation and the mesh adaptation process to capture the high gradients of the solution in the vecinity of boundary layers and in zones of high vorticity of the fluid for both steady state and transient flow situations.

Abstract

The first step in a discrete element simulation is the discretization of the domain into a set of particles. The cost of generating a good cylindrical or spherical packing has resulted in a great number of approaches during the last years. A new algorithm is proposed for high‐density packing using a scheme that minimizes the distance between each particle. Using the support of a finite element mesh, less time is needed in order to achieve a low porosity configuration. In addition, a boundary constraint is introduced. The application of the same optimization scheme is used as a condition to force a good surface definition. The results obtained show a high efficiency for the generation of low porosity packing, achieving values smaller than 10% in 2D cases and 30% in 3D cases. 

Abstract

In the generation of quadrilateral unstructured meshes, special attention is focussed to the shape of the elements. This is because it is well known that the distortion of the elements and the accuracy of the analysis are closely related. However, in adaptive schemes it is also essential that the newly generated mesh meets the prescribed element sizes in order to obtain a solution with the desired precision. In 1982 Giuliani developed a robust rezoning algorithm based on geometrical criteria. It gives proven results in a smooth element size distribution, but elements do not verify the prescribed element size when sharp distributions appear. This paper presents a modification of the Giuliani method that generates non-distorted elements while preserving the element size. Similar to the original method, this modification can be extended to three-dimensional cases.

Abstract

This paper presents a new algorithm to map a given mesh over a source surface onto a target surface. This projection is determined by means of a least-squares approximation of a transformation defined between the loops of boundary nodes of the cap surfaces in the parametric spaces. Once the new mesh is obtained on the parametric space of the target surface, it is mapped to the target surface according to its parameterization. Therefore, in contrast with the usual techniques, the developed algorithm does not require solving any root finding problem to ensure that the projected nodes are on the target surface. Finally, this projection algorithm is extended to three-dimensional cases and included in a sweep meshing tool in order to generate the inner layers of elements in the physical space.

Abstract

This paper presents a new algorithm to generate hexahedral meshes in extrusion geometries. Several algorithms have been devised to generate hexahedral meshes by projecting the cap surfaces along a sweep path. In all of these algorithms the crucial step is the placement of the inner layer of nodes. That is, the projection of the source surface mesh along the sweep path. From the computational point of view, sweep methods based on a least-squares approximation of an affine mapping are the fastest alternative to compute these projections. Several functionals have been introduced to perform the least-squares approximation. However, for very simple and typical geometrical configurations they may generate low-quality projected meshes. For instance, they may induce skewness and flattening effects on the projected discretizations. In addition, for these configurations the minimization of these functionals may lead to a set of normal equations with singular system matrix. In this work we analyze previously defined functionals. Based on this analysis we propose a new functional and show that its minimization overcomes these drawbacks. Finally, we present several examples to assess the properties of the proposed functional.

Abstract

An Adaptive Finite Element Analysis Integrated System supported through application of Case Based Reasoning (CBR) methodology is being proposed in this paper. The approach is fruitful for selection of an initial mesh from a library of solutions to initiate analysis process, as already tested optimal mesh will have lesser refinement iterations. The optimal mesh distribution, represented by object-oriented method, can be easily adapted to the topology of new problem in same domain. An integrated and universal structural analysis system models human reasoning by forming solutions through the retrieval and adaptation of successful strategies used in the past. Basic insight of two distinct subjects along with resolution of involved issues and integration strategy for development of an intelligent system is elaborated here. The research explains an algorithm for case retrieval and mesh generation procedures based on the principles of mapping method.

Abstract

In fluid-structure interaction (FSI), the fluid and solid domains are permantently changing, coupled along a time-dependent, moving fluid-structure interface. The update of the fluid domain, i.e., in the numerical context, the mesh update is critical for robust and efficient simulations. Herein, we propose to inherently embed the mesh generation into the simulation.The FSI domain is defined based on structured building blocks that imply all the relevant information needed for the automatic mesh generation: Topology, geometry, and grading information. Transfinite maps play a crucial role for the definition of sub-meshes with any desired order and resolution in each building block. In every time step, a new mesh is generated, taking into account the deforming FSI interface. This generation is fast compared to the overall work load in each time step which is still dominated by the (iterative) solutions of the systems of equations. It is also very robust and removes any mesh entanglement by construction provided that suitable building blocks are selected once initially. Numerical results confirm the success of the proposed FSI strategy with integrated mesh generation.

Abstract

One of the major difficulties in meshing 3D complex geometries is to deal with non proper geometrical definitions coming from CAD systems. Typically, CAD systems do not take care of the proper definition of the geometries for the analysis purposes. In addition, the use of standard CAD files (IGES, VDA,...) for the transfer of geometries between different systems introduce some additional difficulties. In this work, a collection of algorithms to repair and/or to improve the geometry definitions are provided. The aim of these algorithms is to make as easy as possible the generation of a mesh over complex geometries given some minimum requirements of quality and correctness. The geometrical model will be considered as composed of a set of NURBS lines and trimmed surfaces. Some examples of application of the algorithms and of the meshes generated from the corrected geometry are also presented in this work