Boundary-Conforming Finite Element Methods for Twin-Screw Extruders using Spline-Based Parameterization Techniques

This paper presents a novel spline-based meshing technique that allows for usage of boundary-conforming meshes for unsteady flow and temperature simulations in co-rotating twin-screw extruders. Spline-based descriptions of arbitrary screw geometries are generated using Elliptic Grid Generation. They are evaluated in a number of discrete points to yield a coarse classical mesh. The use of a special control mapping allows to fine-tune properties of the coarse mesh like orthogonality at the boundaries. The coarse mesh is used as a 'scaffolding' to generate a boundary-conforming mesh out of a fine background mesh at run-time. Storing only a coarse mesh makes the method cheap in terms of memory storage. Additionally, the adaptation at run-time is extremely cheap compared to computing the flow solution. Furthermore, this method circumvents the need for expensive re-meshing and projections of solutions making it efficient and accurate. It is incorporated into a space-time finite element framework. We present time-dependent test cases of non-Newtonian fluids in 2D and 3D for complex screw designs. They demonstrate the potential of the method also for arbitrarily complex industrial applications

Moving Domain Computational Fluid Dynamics to Interface with an Embryonic Model of Cardiac Morphogenesis

Peristaltic contraction of the embryonic heart tube produces time- and spatial-varying wall shear stress (WSS) and pressure gradients (∇P) across the atrioventricular (AV) canal. Zebrafish (Danio rerio) are a genetically tractable system to investigate cardiac morphogenesis. The use of Tg(fli1a:EGFP)y1 transgenic embryos allowed for delineation and two-dimensional reconstruction of the endocardium. This time-varying wall motion was then prescribed in a two-dimensional moving domain computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model, providing new insights into spatial and temporal variations in WSS and ∇P during cardiac development. The CFD simulations were validated with particle image velocimetry (PIV) across the atrioventricular (AV) canal, revealing an increase in both velocities and heart rates, but a decrease in the duration of atrial systole from early to later stages. At 20-30 hours post fertilization (hpf), simulation results revealed bidirectional WSS across the AV canal in the heart tube in response to peristaltic motion of the wall. At 40-50 hpf, the tube structure undergoes cardiac looping, accompanied by a nearly 3-fold increase in WSS magnitude. At 110-120 hpf, distinct AV valve, atrium, ventricle, and bulbus arteriosus form, accompanied by incremental increases in both WSS magnitude and ∇P, but a decrease in bi-directional flow. Laminar flow develops across the AV canal at 20-30 hpf, and persists at 110-120 hpf. Reynolds numbers at the AV canal increase from 0.07±0.03 at 20-30 hpf to 0.23±0.07 at 110-120 hpf (p< 0.05, n=6), whereas Womersley numbers remain relatively unchanged from 0.11 to 0.13. Our moving domain simulations highlights hemodynamic changes in relation to cardiac morphogenesis; thereby, providing a 2-D quantitative approach to complement imaging analysis. © 2013 Lee et al

The meshfree localized Petrov-Galerkin approach in slope stability analysis

The article focuses on the use of the meshfree numerical method in the field of slope stability computations. There are many meshfree implementations of numerical methods. The article shows the results obtained using the meshfree localized Petrov-Galerkin method (MLPG) - localized weak-form of the equilibrium equations with an often used elastoplastic material model based on Mohr-Coulomb (MC) yield criterion. The most important aspect of MLPG is that the discretization process uses a set of nodes instead of elements. Node position within the computational domain is not restricted by any prescribed relationship. The shape functions are constructed using just the set of nodes present in the simple shaped domain of influence. The benchmark slope stability numerical model was performed using the developed meshfree computer code and compared with conventional finite element (FEM) and limit equilibrium (LEM) codes. The results showed the ability of the implemented theoretical preliminaries to solve the geotechnical stability problems.Web of Science151847

Isogeometric Analysis on V-reps: first results

Inspired by the introduction of Volumetric Modeling via volumetric representations (V-reps) by Massarwi and Elber in 2016, in this paper we present a novel approach for the construction of isogeometric numerical methods for elliptic PDEs on trimmed geometries, seen as a special class of more general V-reps. We develop tools for approximation and local re-parametrization of trimmed elements for three dimensional problems, and we provide a theoretical framework that fully justify our algorithmic choices. We validate our approach both on two and three dimensional problems, for diffusion and linear elasticity.Comment: 36 pages, 44 figures. Reviewed versio

Solving Inverse Problems with Piecewise Linear Estimators: From Gaussian Mixture Models to Structured Sparsity

A general framework for solving image inverse problems is introduced in this paper. The approach is based on Gaussian mixture models, estimated via a computationally efficient MAP-EM algorithm. A dual mathematical interpretation of the proposed framework with structured sparse estimation is described, which shows that the resulting piecewise linear estimate stabilizes the estimation when compared to traditional sparse inverse problem techniques. This interpretation also suggests an effective dictionary motivated initialization for the MAP-EM algorithm. We demonstrate that in a number of image inverse problems, including inpainting, zooming, and deblurring, the same algorithm produces either equal, often significantly better, or very small margin worse results than the best published ones, at a lower computational cost.Comment: 30 page

Shock capturing computations with stabilized Powell-Sabin elements

International audienceIn the last recent years, thanks to the increasing power of the computational machines , the interest in more and more accurate numerical schemes is growing. Methods based on high-order approximations are nowadays the common trend in the computational research community, in particular for CFD applications. This work is focused on Powell-Sabin (PS) finite elements, a finite element method (FEM) based on PS splines. PS splines are piecewise quadratic polynomials with a global C1 continuity , defined on conforming triangulations. Despite its attractive characteristics, so far this scheme hasn't had the attention it deserves. PS splines are adapted to unstructured meshes and, contrary to classical tensor product B-splines, they are particularly suited for local refinement , a crucial aspect in the analysis of highly convective and anisotropic equations. The additional global smoothness of the C1 space has a beneficial stabilization effect in the treatment of advection-dominated equations and leads to a better capturing of thin layers. Finally, unlike most of other typology of high-order finite elements, the numerical unknowns in PS elements are located in the vertices of the triangulation, leading to an easy treatment of the parallel aspects. Some geometrical issues related to PS elements are discussed here, in particular, the generation of the control triangles and the imposition of the boundary conditions. The PS FEM method is used to solve the compressible Euler equation in supersonic regime. A classical shock-capturing technique is used to reduce the oscillation around the discontinuity, while a variational multiscale formulation is used to introduce numerical diffusion in the streamwise direction. Some typical numerical examples are used to evaluate the performance of the PS discretization