1,769 research outputs found
Optimal Order Convergence Implies Numerical Smoothness
It is natural to expect the following loosely stated approximation principle
to hold: a numerical approximation solution should be in some sense as smooth
as its target exact solution in order to have optimal convergence. For
piecewise polynomials, that means we have to at least maintain numerical
smoothness in the interiors as well as across the interfaces of cells or
elements. In this paper we give clear definitions of numerical smoothness that
address the across-interface smoothness in terms of scaled jumps in derivatives
[9] and the interior numerical smoothness in terms of differences in derivative
values. Furthermore, we prove rigorously that the principle can be simply
stated as numerical smoothness is necessary for optimal order convergence. It
is valid on quasi-uniform meshes by triangles and quadrilaterals in two
dimensions and by tetrahedrons and hexahedrons in three dimensions. With this
validation we can justify, among other things, incorporation of this principle
in creating adaptive numerical approximation for the solution of PDEs or ODEs,
especially in designing proper smoothness indicators or detecting potential
non-convergence and instability
Adaptive mesh refinement techniques for high-order finite-volume WENO schemes
This paper demonstrates the capabilities of Adaptive Mesh Refinement Techniques (AMR) on 2D hybrid unstructured meshes, for high order finite volume WENO methods. The AMR technique developed is a conformal adapting unstructured hybrid quadrilaterals and triangles (quads & tris) technique for resolving sharp flow features in accurate manner for steady-state and time dependent flow problems. In this method, the mesh can be refined or coarsened which depends on an error estimator, making decision at the parent level whilst maintaining a conformal mesh, the unstructured hybrid mesh refinement is done hierarchically.When a numerical method can work on a fixed conformal mesh this can be applied to do dynamic mesh adaptation. Two Refinement strategies have been devised both following a H-P refinement technique, which can be applied for providing better resolution to strong gradient dominated problems. The AMR algorithm has been tested on cylindrical explosion test and forward facing step problems
VoroCrust: Voronoi Meshing Without Clipping
Polyhedral meshes are increasingly becoming an attractive option with
particular advantages over traditional meshes for certain applications. What
has been missing is a robust polyhedral meshing algorithm that can handle broad
classes of domains exhibiting arbitrarily curved boundaries and sharp features.
In addition, the power of primal-dual mesh pairs, exemplified by
Voronoi-Delaunay meshes, has been recognized as an important ingredient in
numerous formulations. The VoroCrust algorithm is the first provably-correct
algorithm for conforming polyhedral Voronoi meshing for non-convex and
non-manifold domains with guarantees on the quality of both surface and volume
elements. A robust refinement process estimates a suitable sizing field that
enables the careful placement of Voronoi seeds across the surface circumventing
the need for clipping and avoiding its many drawbacks. The algorithm has the
flexibility of filling the interior by either structured or random samples,
while preserving all sharp features in the output mesh. We demonstrate the
capabilities of the algorithm on a variety of models and compare against
state-of-the-art polyhedral meshing methods based on clipped Voronoi cells
establishing the clear advantage of VoroCrust output.Comment: 18 pages (including appendix), 18 figures. Version without compressed
images available on https://www.dropbox.com/s/qc6sot1gaujundy/VoroCrust.pdf.
Supplemental materials available on
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6p72h1e2ivw6kj3/VoroCrust_supplemental_materials.pd
Identifying combinations of tetrahedra into hexahedra: a vertex based strategy
Indirect hex-dominant meshing methods rely on the detection of adjacent
tetrahedra an algorithm that performs this identification and builds the set of
all possible combinations of tetrahedral elements of an input mesh T into
hexahedra, prisms, or pyramids. All identified cells are valid for engineering
analysis. First, all combinations of eight/six/five vertices whose connectivity
in T matches the connectivity of a hexahedron/prism/pyramid are computed. The
subset of tetrahedra of T triangulating each potential cell is then determined.
Quality checks allow to early discard poor quality cells and to dramatically
improve the efficiency of the method. Each potential hexahedron/prism/pyramid
is computed only once. Around 3 millions potential hexahedra are computed in 10
seconds on a laptop. We finally demonstrate that the set of potential hexes
built by our algorithm is significantly larger than those built using
predefined patterns of subdivision of a hexahedron in tetrahedral elements.Comment: Preprint submitted to CAD (26th IMR special issue
Phase-field boundary conditions for the voxel finite cell method: surface-free stress analysis of CT-based bone structures
The voxel finite cell method employs unfitted finite element meshes and voxel quadrature rules to seamlessly
transfer CT data into patient-specific bone discretizations. The method, however, still requires the explicit
parametrization of boundary surfaces to impose traction and displacement boundary conditions, which
constitutes a potential roadblock to automation. We explore a phase-field based formulation for imposing
traction and displacement constraints in a diffuse sense. Its essential component is a diffuse geometry model
generated from metastable phase-field solutions of the Allen-Cahn problem that assumes the imaging data as
initial condition. Phase-field approximations of the boundary and its gradient are then employed to transfer
all boundary terms in the variational formulation into volumetric terms. We show that in the context of the
voxel finite cell method, diffuse boundary conditions achieve the same accuracy as boundary conditions
defined over explicit sharp surfaces, if the inherent length scales, i.e., the interface width of the phase-field,
the voxel spacing and the mesh size, are properly related. We demonstrate the flexibility of the new method
by analyzing stresses in a human femur and a vertebral body
An adaptive octree finite element method for PDEs posed on surfaces
The paper develops a finite element method for partial differential equations
posed on hypersurfaces in , . The method uses traces of
bulk finite element functions on a surface embedded in a volumetric domain. The
bulk finite element space is defined on an octree grid which is locally refined
or coarsened depending on error indicators and estimated values of the surface
curvatures. The cartesian structure of the bulk mesh leads to easy and
efficient adaptation process, while the trace finite element method makes
fitting the mesh to the surface unnecessary. The number of degrees of freedom
involved in computations is consistent with the two-dimension nature of surface
PDEs. No parametrization of the surface is required; it can be given implicitly
by a level set function. In practice, a variant of the marching cubes method is
used to recover the surface with the second order accuracy. We prove the
optimal order of accuracy for the trace finite element method in and
surface norms for a problem with smooth solution and quasi-uniform mesh
refinement. Experiments with less regular problems demonstrate optimal
convergence with respect to the number of degrees of freedom, if grid
adaptation is based on an appropriate error indicator. The paper shows results
of numerical experiments for a variety of geometries and problems, including
advection-diffusion equations on surfaces. Analysis and numerical results of
the paper suggest that combination of cartesian adaptive meshes and the
unfitted (trace) finite elements provide simple, efficient, and reliable tool
for numerical treatment of PDEs posed on surfaces
Finite Element Analysis for Linear Elastic Solids Based on Subdivision Schemes
Finite element methods are used in various areas ranging from mechanical engineering to computer graphics and bio-medical applications. In engineering, a critical point is the gap between CAD and CAE. This gap results from different representations used for geometric design and physical simulation.
We present two different approaches for using subdivision solids as the only representation for modeling, simulation and visualization. This has the advantage that no data must be converted between the CAD and CAE phases. The first approach is based on an adaptive and feature-preserving tetrahedral subdivision scheme. The second approach is based on Catmull-Clark subdivision solids
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