A DELAYED FREQUENCY PRECONDITIONER APPROACH FOR SPEEDING-UP FREQUENCY RESPONSE COMPUTATION OF STRUCTURAL COMPONENTS

In this work, a delayed frequency preconditioner (DFP) is developed and applied in structural problems for speeding-up the frequency response computation. The challenge of computing the frequency response lies in the computation of the linear system that involves the excitation forces and also the dynamic stiffness which is frequency-dependent. For each frequency, the dynamic stiffness must be updated and a new factorization must be performed, which introduces a high computational cost on the solutions of the linear systems. Alternatively, iterative solver such as GMRES can be applied to avoid the cost of factorization, however they require good preconditioners that are traditionally also frequency-dependent. In the new approach, the dynamic stiffness operator is updated with the frequency whereas the preconditioner is kept constant for a range of frequencies serving as a low-cost preconditioner for the iterative solver. This technique saves computation time because a new factorization is avoided for each frequency point. On the other hand, the effectiveness of the delayed preconditioner is destroyed when the frequency of the dynamic operator is too far away from each other. Therefore, we propose a heuristic approach to update the preconditioner when it is underperforming. The algorithm is tested on structural problems and the results show that this approach can drastically reduce the number of iterations for the computation of the frequency response

FETI based domain decomposition methods for large-scale topology optimization

This work deals with the issues specific to the development of a massively parallel topology optimization solver. This is developed as a module in the open source software ExaScale PaRallel FETI SOlver (ESPRESO, http://espreso.it4i.cz/). In a topology optimization problem, the heterogeneity of the system increases, which adversely affects the performance of the Finite Element Tearing and Interconnection (FETI) method. Robust FETI variants which can handle such heterogeneities are discussed here. Their performance is tested and the results are presented. A suitable FETI method is identified for implementation in topology optimization solver.New YorkWeb of Science2293art. no. 33000

Quantitative estimation on delaying of onset of corrosion of rebar in surface treated concrete using sealers

Surface treatment on the concrete surface using sealers reduces the rate of permeability of chloride and moisture through the concrete. The delaying of onset of corrosion is evaluated for surface treated and untreated concrete using electrochemical techniques. After conducting rapid chloride permeability test (RCPT), using Nernst–Plank equation, the diffusion coefficient of chloride (Deff) is calculated. Substituting threshold chloride concentration of rebar (Cth) from cyclic polarization test in the ficks second law, the time to initiation of corrosion (Ti) is arrived. From the results it is found that the treated concrete with alkyltrialkoxy silane sealer delays the onset of corrosion by four times than that of untreated concrete

Quantitative estimation on delaying of onset of corrosion of rebar in surface treated concrete using sealers

Surface treatment on the concrete surface using sealers reduces the rate of permeability of chloride and moisture through the concrete. The delaying of onset of corrosion is evaluated for surface treated and untreated concrete using electrochemical techniques. After conducting rapid chloride permeability test (RCPT), using Nernst–Plank equation, the diffusion coefficient of chloride (Deff) is calculated. Substituting threshold chloride concentration of rebar (Cth) from cyclic polarization test in the ficks second law, the time to initiation of corrosion (Ti) is arrived. From the results it is found that the treated concrete with alkyltrialkoxy silane sealer delays the onset of corrosion by four times than that of untreated concrete