Efficient implicit FEM simulation of sheet metal forming

For the simulation of industrial sheet forming processes, the time discretisation is\ud one of the important factors that determine the accuracy and efficiency of the algorithm. For\ud relatively small models, the implicit time integration method is preferred, because of its inherent\ud equilibrium check. For large models, the computation time becomes prohibitively large and, in\ud practice, often explicit methods are used. In this contribution a strategy is presented that enables\ud the application of implicit finite element simulations for large scale sheet forming analysis.\ud Iterative linear equation solvers are commonly considered unsuitable for shell element models.\ud The condition number of the stiffness matrix is usually very poor and the extreme reduction\ud of CPU time that is obtained in 3D bulk simulations is not reached in sheet forming simulations.\ud Adding mass in an implicit time integration method has a beneficial effect on the condition number.\ud If mass scaling is used—like in explicit methods—iterative linear equation solvers can lead\ud to very efficient implicit time integration methods, without restriction to a critical time step and\ud with control of the equilibrium error in every increment. Time savings of a factor of 10 and more\ud can easily be reached, compared to the use of conventional direct solvers.\ud

A Multigrid Optimization Algorithm for the Numerical Solution of Quasilinear Variational Inequalities Involving the pp-Laplacian

In this paper we propose a multigrid optimization algorithm (MG/OPT) for the numerical solution of a class of quasilinear variational inequalities of the second kind. This approach is enabled by the fact that the solution of the variational inequality is given by the minimizer of a nonsmooth energy functional, involving the $p$-Laplace operator. We propose a Huber regularization of the functional and a finite element discretization for the problem. Further, we analyze the regularity of the discretized energy functional, and we are able to prove that its Jacobian is slantly differentiable. This regularity property is useful to analyze the convergence of the MG/OPT algorithm. In fact, we demostrate that the algorithm is globally convergent by using a mean value theorem for semismooth functions. Finally, we apply the MG/OPT algorithm to the numerical simulation of the viscoplastic flow of Bingham, Casson and Herschel-Bulkley fluids in a pipe. Several experiments are carried out to show the efficiency of the proposed algorithm when solving this kind of fluid mechanics problems

Hydrodynamics of Suspensions of Passive and Active Rigid Particles: A Rigid Multiblob Approach

We develop a rigid multiblob method for numerically solving the mobility problem for suspensions of passive and active rigid particles of complex shape in Stokes flow in unconfined, partially confined, and fully confined geometries. As in a number of existing methods, we discretize rigid bodies using a collection of minimally-resolved spherical blobs constrained to move as a rigid body, to arrive at a potentially large linear system of equations for the unknown Lagrange multipliers and rigid-body motions. Here we develop a block-diagonal preconditioner for this linear system and show that a standard Krylov solver converges in a modest number of iterations that is essentially independent of the number of particles. For unbounded suspensions and suspensions sedimented against a single no-slip boundary, we rely on existing analytical expressions for the Rotne-Prager tensor combined with a fast multipole method or a direct summation on a Graphical Processing Unit to obtain an simple yet efficient and scalable implementation. For fully confined domains, such as periodic suspensions or suspensions confined in slit and square channels, we extend a recently-developed rigid-body immersed boundary method to suspensions of freely-moving passive or active rigid particles at zero Reynolds number. We demonstrate that the iterative solver for the coupled fluid and rigid body equations converges in a bounded number of iterations regardless of the system size. We optimize a number of parameters in the iterative solvers and apply our method to a variety of benchmark problems to carefully assess the accuracy of the rigid multiblob approach as a function of the resolution. We also model the dynamics of colloidal particles studied in recent experiments, such as passive boomerangs in a slit channel, as well as a pair of non-Brownian active nanorods sedimented against a wall.Comment: Under revision in CAMCOS, Nov 201

Performance Portable Solid Mechanics via Matrix-Free pp-Multigrid

Finite element analysis of solid mechanics is a foundational tool of modern engineering, with low-order finite element methods and assembled sparse matrices representing the industry standard for implicit analysis. We use performance models and numerical experiments to demonstrate that high-order methods greatly reduce the costs to reach engineering tolerances while enabling effective use of GPUs. We demonstrate the reliability, efficiency, and scalability of matrix-free $p$-multigrid methods with algebraic multigrid coarse solvers through large deformation hyperelastic simulations of multiscale structures. We investigate accuracy, cost, and execution time on multi-node CPU and GPU systems for moderate to large models using AMD MI250X (OLCF Crusher), NVIDIA A100 (NERSC Perlmutter), and V100 (LLNL Lassen and OLCF Summit), resulting in order of magnitude efficiency improvements over a broad range of model properties and scales. We discuss efficient matrix-free representation of Jacobians and demonstrate how automatic differentiation enables rapid development of nonlinear material models without impacting debuggability and workflows targeting GPUs

Mini-Workshop: Interface Problems in Computational Fluid Dynamics

Multiple difficulties are encountered when designing algorithms to simulate flows having free surfaces, embedded particles, or elastic containers. One difficulty common to all of these problems is that the associated interfaces are Lagrangian in character, while the fluid equations are naturally posed in the Eulerian frame. This workshop explores different approaches and algorithms developed to resolve these issues

Schnelle Löser für Partielle Differentialgleichungen

The workshop Schnelle Löser für partielle Differentialgleichungen, organised by Randolph E. Bank (La Jolla), Wolfgang Hackbusch (Leipzig), and Gabriel Wittum (Frankfurt am Main), was held May 22nd–May 28th, 2011. This meeting was well attended by 54 participants with broad geographic representation from 7 countries and 3 continents. This workshop was a nice blend of researchers with various backgrounds