Shape design sensitivity analysis via material derivative-adjoint variable technique for 3-D and 2-D curved boundary elements

A general approach to shape design sensitivity analysis of three- and two-dimensional elastic solid objects is developed using the material derivative-adjoint variable technique and boundary element method. The formulation of the problem is general and first-order sensitivities in the form of boundary integrals for the effect of boundary shape variations are derived for an arbitrary performance functional. Second-order quadrilateral surface elements (for 3-D problems) and quadratic boundary elements (for 2-D problems) are employed in the solution of primary and adjoint systems and discretization of the boundary integral expressions for sensitivities. The accuracy of sensitivity information is studied for selected global performance functionals and also for boundary state fields at discrete points. Numerical results are presented to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of this approach.     

Three dimensional boundary formulations for nonlinear thermal shape sensitivities

Implicit differentiation of the discretized boundary integral equations governing the conduction of heat in three dimensional (3D) solid objects, subjected to nonlinear boundary conditions, and with temperature dependent material properties, is shown to generate an accurate and economical approach for the computation of shape sensitivities. The theoretical formulation for primary response (surface temperature and normal heat flux) sensitivities and secondary response (surface tangential heat flux components and internal temperature and heat flux components) sensitivities is given. Iterative strategies are described for the solution of the resulting sets of nonlinear equations and computational performances examined. Multi-zone analysis and zone condensation strategies are demonstrated to provide substantial computational economies in this process for models with either localized nonlinear boundary conditions or regions of geometric insensitivity to design variables. A series of nonlinear sensitivity example problems are presented that have closed form solutions. Sensitivities computed using the boundary formulation are shown to be in excellent agreement with these exact expressions.     

A consistent grayscale‐free topology optimization method using the level‐set method and zero‐level boundary tracking mesh

This paper proposes a level‐set based topology optimization method incorporating a boundary tracking mesh generating method and nonlinear programming. Because the boundary tracking mesh is always conformed to the structural boundary, good approximation to the boundary is maintained during optimization; therefore, structural design problems are solved completely without grayscale material. Previously, we introduced the boundary tracking mesh generating method into level‐set based topology optimization and updated the design variables by solving the level‐set equation. In order to adapt our previous method to general structural optimization frameworks, the incorporation of the method with nonlinear programming is investigated in this paper. To successfully incorporate nonlinear programming, the optimization problem is regularized using a double‐well potential. Furthermore, the sensitivities with respect to the design variables are strictly derived to maintain consistency in mathematical programming. We expect the investigation to open up a new class of grayscale‐free topology optimization. The usefulness of the proposed method is demonstrated using several numerical examples targeting two‐dimensional compliant mechanism and metallic waveguide design problems. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An immersed boundary element method for level‐set based topology optimization

In this paper, we propose a new BEM for level‐set based topology optimization. In the proposed BEM, the nodal coordinates of the boundary element are replaced with the nodal level‐set function and the nodal coordinates of the Eulerian mesh that maintains the level‐set function. Because this replacement causes the nodal coordinates of the boundary element to disappear, the boundary element mesh appears to be immersed in the Eulerian mesh. Therefore, we call the proposed BEM an immersed BEM. The relationship between the nodal coordinates of the boundary element and the nodal level‐set function of the Eulerian mesh is clearly represented, and therefore, the sensitivities with respect to the nodal level‐set function are strictly derived in the immersed BEM. Furthermore, the immersed BEM completely eliminates grayscale elements that are known to cause numerical difficulties in topology optimization. By using the immersed BEM, we construct a concrete topology optimization method for solving the minimum compliance problem. We provide some numerical examples and discuss the usefulness of the constructed optimization method on the basis of the obtained results. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

THREE-DIMENSIONAL DESIGN SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS USING A BOUNDARY INTEGRAL APPROACH

A general shape design sensitivity analysis approach, different from traditional sensitivity methods is developed for three-dimensional elastostatic problems. The boundary integral design sensitivity formulation is given in order to obtain traction, displacement and equivalent stress sensitivities which are required for design optimization. Those integral equations are derived analytically by differentiation with respect to the normal to the surface at design variable points. Subdivision of boundary elements into sub-elements and rigid body translation methods are employed to deal with singularities that occur during the numerical discretization of the domain. Four different examples are demonstrated to show the accuracy of the method. The boundary integral sensitivity results are compared with the finite difference sensitivity results. Excellent agreement is achieved between the two methods. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sensitivity analysis and shape optimization in nonlinear solid mechanics

The objective of this paper is twofold. First, it presents a boundary element formulation for sensitivity analysis for solid mechanics problems involving both material and geometric nonlinearities. The second focus is on the use of such sensitivities to obtain optimal design for problems of this class. Numerical examples include sensitivity analysis for small (material nonlinearities only) and large deformation problems. These numerical results are in good agreement with direct integration results. Further, by using these sensitivities, a shape optimization problem has been solved for a plate with a cutout involving only material nonlinearities. The difference between the optimal shapes of solids, undergoing purely elastic or elasto-viscoplastic deformation is shown clearly in this example.     

Accurate radiation boundary conditions for the time‐dependent wave equation on unbounded domains

Asymptotic and exact local radiation boundary conditions (RBC) for the scalar time‐dependent wave equation, first derived by Hagstrom and Hariharan, are reformulated as an auxiliary Cauchy problem for each radial harmonic on a spherical boundary. The reformulation is based on the hierarchy of local boundary operators used by Bayliss and Turkel which satisfy truncations of an asymptotic expansion for each radial harmonic. The residuals of the local operators are determined from the solution of parallel systems of linear first‐order temporal equations. A decomposition into orthogonal transverse modes on the spherical boundary is used so that the residual functions may be computed efficiently and concurrently without altering the local character of the finite element equations. Since the auxiliary functions are based on residuals of an asymptotic expansion, the proposed method has the ability to vary separately the radial and transverse modal orders of the RBC. With the number of equations in the auxiliary Cauchy problem equal to the transverse mode number, this reformulation is exact. In this form, the equivalence with the closely related non‐reflecting boundary condition of Grote and Keller is shown. If fewer equations are used, then the boundary conditions form high‐order accurate asymptotic approximations to the exact condition, with corresponding reduction in work and memory. Numerical studies are performed to assess the accuracy and convergence properties of the exact and asymptotic versions of the RBC. The results demonstrate that the asymptotic formulation has dramatically improved accuracy for time domain simulations compared to standard boundary treatments and improved efficiency over the exact condition. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A quadrature formula for integrals with nearby singularities

The purpose of this paper is to propose a new quadrature formula for integrals with nearby singularities. In the boundary element method, the integrands of nearby singular boundary integrals vary drastically with the distance between the field and the source point. Especially, field variables and their derivatives at a field point near a boundary cannot be computed accurately. In the present paper a quadrature formula for ??‐isolated singularities near the integration interval, based on Lagrange interpolatory polynomials, is obtained. The error estimation of the proposed formula is also given. Quadrature formulas for regular and singular integrals with conjugate poles are derived. Numerical examples are given and the proposed quadrature rules present the expected polynomial accuracy. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An interface integral equation method for solving general multi‐medium mechanics problems

In this paper, based on the general stress–strain relationship, displacement and stress boundary‐domain integral equations are established for single medium with varying material properties. From the established integral equations, single interface integral equations are derived for solving general multi‐medium mechanics problems by making use of the variation feature of the material properties. The displacement and stress interface integral equations derived in this paper can be applied to solve non‐homogeneous, anisotropic, and non‐linear multi‐medium problems in a unified way. By imposing some assumptions on the derived integral equations, detailed expressions for some specific mechanics problems are deduced, and a few numerical examples are given to demonstrate the correctness and robustness of the derived displacement and stress interface integral equations. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sensitivity and optimization for shape and non‐linear boundary conditions in thermal boundary elements

This paper is concerned with the minimization of functionals of the form ∫_Γ(b) f( h ,T( b, h )) dΓ( b ) where variation of the vector b modifies the shape of the domain Ω on which the potential problem, ?²T=0, is defined. The vector h is dependent on non‐linear boundary conditions that are defined on the boundary Γ. The method proposed is founded on the material derivative adjoint variable method traditionally used for shape optimization. Attention is restricted to problems where the shape of Γ is described by a boundary element mesh, where nodal co‐ordinates are used in the definition of b . Propositions are presented to show how design sensitivities for the modified functional ∫_Γ(b) f( h ,T ( b, h )) dΓ( b ) +∫_Ω(b) λ( b, h ) ?²T( b, h ) dΩ( b ) can be derived more readily with knowledge of the form of the adjoint function λ determined via non‐shape variations. The methods developed in the paper are applied to a problem in pressure die casting, where the objective is the determination of cooling channel shapes for optimum cooling. The results of the method are shown to be highly convergent. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Shape sensitivity analysis of composites in contact using the boundary element method

This paper presents the application of the boundary element method to the shape sensitivity analysis of two-dimensional composite structures in contact. A directly differentiated form of boundary integral equation with respect to geometric design variables is used to calculate shape design sensitivities for anisotropic materials with frictionless contact. The selected design variables are the coordinates of the boundary points either in the contact or non-contact area. Three example problems with anisotropic material properties are presented to validate the applications of this formulation.     

A BEM sensitivity and shape identification analysis for acoustic scattering in fluid–solid problems

In this paper a boundary element formulation for the sensitivity analysis of structures immersed in an inviscide fluid and illuminated by harmonic incident plane waves is presented. Also presented is the sensitivity analysis coupled with an optimization procedure for analyses of flaw identification problems. The formulation developed utilizes the boundary integral equation of the Helmholtz equation for the external problem and the Cauchy–Navier equation for the internal elastic problem. The sensitivities are obtained by the implicit differentiation technique. Examples are presented to demonstrate the accuracy of the proposed formulations. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Structural optimization using the boundary element method and topological derivative applied to a suspension trailing arm

This work investigates the optimization of elasticity problems using the boundary element method (BEM) as a numerical solver. A topological shape sensitivity approach is used to select the points showing the lowest sensitivities. As the iterative process evolves, the original domain has portions of material progressively removed in the less efficient areas until a given stop criterion is achieved. Two benchmark tests are investigated to demonstrate the influence of the boundary conditions on the final topology. Following this, a suspension trailing arm is optimized and a new design is proposed as an alternative to commercially available methods. A postprocedure of smoothing using Bézier curves was employed for the final topology of the trailing arm. This process allowed the external irregular shapes to be overcome. The BEM coupled with the topological derivative was shown to be an alternative to traditional optimization techniques using the finite element method. The present methodology was shown to be efficient for delivering optimal topologies with few iterations. All routines used were written in open code.     

A FE2 shell model with periodic boundary conditions for thin and thick shells

In this article a FE2 shell model for thin and thick shells within a first order homogenization scheme is presented. A variational formulation for the two-scale boundary value problem and the associated finite element formulation is developed. Constraints with 5 or 9 Lagrange parameters are derived which eliminate both rigid body movements and dependencies of the shear stiffness on the size of the representative volume elements (RVEs). At the bottom and top surface of the RVEs which extend through the total thickness of the shell stress boundary conditions are present. The periodic boundary conditions at the lateral surfaces are applied in such a way that particular membrane, bending and shear modes are not restrained. This is shown by means of a homogeneous RVE. The first of all linear formulation is extended to finite strain problems introducing transformation relations for the stress resultants and the material matrix. The transformations are performed at the Gauss points on macro level. Several boundary value problems including large deformations, stability and inelasticity are computed and compared with 3D reference solutions.     

Stresses,stress sensitivities and shape optimization in two-dimensional linear elasticity by the Boundary Contour Method

This paper presents new formulations for computing stresses as well as their sensitivities in two-dimensional (2-D) linear elasticity by the Boundary Contour Method (BCM). Contrary to previous work (e.g. Reference 1), the formulations presented here are established directly from the boundary contour version of the Hypersingular Boundary Integral Equation (HBIE) which can provide accurate numerical results and is very efficient with regard to numerical implementation as well as computational time. The Design Sensitivity Coefficients (DSCs) computed from the above formulations are then coupled with a mathematical programming method, here the Successive Quadratic Programming (SQP) algorithm, in order to solve shape optimization problems. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the validity of the new formulations for calculation of DSCs. Also, based on these formulations, shape optimization examples by the BCM are presented here for the first time. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Differentiability of strongly singular and hypersingular boundary integral formulations with respect to boundary perturbations

In this paper, we establish that the Lagrangian-type material differentiation formulas, that allow to express the first-order derivative of a (regular) surface integral with respect to a geometrical domain perturbation, still hold true for the strongly singular and hypersingular surface integrals usually encountered in boundary integral formulations. As a consequence, this work supports previous investigations where shape sensitivities are computed using the so-called direct differentiation approach in connection with singular boundary integral equation formulations. Communicated by T. Cruse, 6 September 1996     

Boundary formulations for shape sensitivity of temperature dependent conductivity problems

Used in concert with the Kirchhoff transformation, implicit differentiation of the discretized boundary integral equations governing the conduction of heat in solids with temperature dependent thermal conductivity is shown to generate an accurate and economical approach for computation of shape sensitivities. For problems with specified temperature and heat flux boundary conditions, a linear problem results for both the analysis and sensitivity analysis. In problems with either convection or radiation boundary conditions, a non-linear problem is generated. Several iterative strategies are presented for the solution of the resulting sets of non-linear equations and the computational performances examined in detail. Multi-zone analysis and zone condensation strategies are demonstrated to provide substantive computational economies in this process for models with either localized non-iinear boundary conditions or regions of geometric insensitivity to design variables. A series of non-linear example problems is presented that have closed form solutions. Exact anaytical expressions tor the shape sensitivities associated with these problems are developed and these are compared with the sensitivities computed using the boundary element formulation.     

Hierarchical universal matrices for triangular finite elements with varying material properties and curved boundaries

The integration required to find the stiffness matrix for a triangular finite element is inexpensive if the polynomial order of the element is low. Higher‐order elements can be handled efficiently by universal matrices provided they are straight‐edged and the material properties are uniform. For curved elements and elements with varying material properties (e.g. non‐linear B–H curves), Gaussian integration is generally used, but becomes expensive for high orders. Two new methods are proposed in which the high‐order part of the integrand is integrated exactly and the results stored in pre‐computed universal matrices. The effect of curved edges and varying material properties is approximated via interpolation. The storage requirement of the procedure is kept to a minimum by using specifically devised basis functions which are hierarchical and possess the three‐fold symmetry of a triangular element. Care has been taken to maintain the conditioning of the basis. One of the new methods is hierarchical in nature and suitable for use in an adaptive integration scheme. Results show that, for a given required accuracy, the new approaches are more efficient than Gauss quadrature for element orders of 4 or greater. The computational advantage increases rapidly with increasing order. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sensitivity analysis with plate and shell finite elements

This paper addresses the problem of calculating sensitivity data by direct methods for isoparametric plate or shell elements. Sensitivity parameters of interest include intrinsic properties such as material modulus and plate thickness, as well as geometry variables which influence the size and shape of a structure. The sensitivity calculation therefore must consider the parametric mapping within an element, as well as the influence of geometric variables on the orientation of an element in space. The methods presented specialize directly to continuum elements, in which the co-ordinate transformation is omitted, or to simple structural members situated arbitrarily in space. Numerical examples are presented which illustrate the accuracy of the proposed techniques, and the effect of discretization error on computed sensitivities.     

Scaled boundary polygons with application to fracture analysis of functionally graded materials

This study presents a framework for the development of polygon elements based on the scaled boundary FEM. Underpinning this study is the development of generalized scaled boundary shape functions valid for any n‐sided polygon. These shape functions are continuous inside each polygon and across adjacent polygons. For uncracked polygons, the shape functions are linearly complete. For cracked polygons, the shape functions reproduce the square‐root singularity and the higher‐order terms in the Williams eigenfunction expansion. This allows the singular stress field in the vicinity of the crack tip to be represented accurately. Using these shape functions, a novel‐scaled boundary polygon formulation that captures the heterogeneous material response observed in functionally graded materials is developed. The stiffness matrix in each polygon is derived from the principle of virtual work using the scaled boundary shape functions. The material heterogeneity is approximated in each polygon by a polynomial surface in scaled boundary coordinates. The intrinsic properties of the scaled boundary shape functions enable accurate computation of stress intensity factors in cracked functionally graded materials directly from their definitions. The new formulation is validated, and its salient features are demonstrated, using five numerical benchmarks. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.