Rapid re-meshing and re-solution of three-dimensional boundary element problems for interactive stress analysis

Foster, T.M.; Mohamed, M.S.; Trevelyan, J.; Coates, G.

Abstract

Structural design of mechanical components is an iterative process that involves multiple stress analysis runs; this can be time consuming and expensive. It is becoming increasingly possible to make significant improvements in the efficiency of this process by increasing the level of interactivity. One approach is through real-time re-analysis of models with continuously updating geometry. A key part of such a strategy is the ability to accommodate changes in geometry with minimal perturbation to an existing mesh. This work introduces a new re-meshing algorithm that can generate and update a boundary element mesh in real-time as a series of small changes are sequentially applied to the associated model. The algorithm is designed to make minimal updates to the mesh between each step whilst preserving a suitable mesh quality that retains accuracy in the stress results. This significantly reduces the number of terms that need to be updated in the system matrix, thereby reducing the time required to carry out a re-analysis of the model. A range of solvers are assessed to find the most efficient and robust method of re-solving the system. The GMRES algorithm, using complete approximate LU preconditioning, is found to provide the fastest convergence rate.

Citation

Foster, T., Mohamed, M., Trevelyan, J., & Coates, G. (2012). Rapid re-meshing and re-solution of three-dimensional boundary element problems for interactive stress analysis. Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements, 36(9), 1331-1343. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enganabound.2012.02.020

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 4, 2012
• Publication Date: Sep 1, 2012
• Deposit Date: Apr 16, 2012
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 19, 2015
• Journal: Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements
• Print ISSN: 0955-7997
• Electronic ISSN: 1873-197X
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 36
• Issue: 9
• Pages: 1331-1343
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enganabound.2012.02.020
• Keywords: Boundary element method, Meshing, Re-analysis, Linear solvers.
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1477286