To simulate increasingly complex physical phenomena and systems, tightly integrated design-through-analysis (DTA) tools are essential. In this dissertation, the complementary strengths of isogeometric analysis and T-splines are coupled and enhanced to create a seamless DTA framework. In all cases, the technology de- veloped meets the demands of both design and analysis. In isogeometric analysis, the smooth geometric basis is used as the basis for analysis. It has been demonstrated that smoothness offers important computational advantages over standard finite elements. T-splines are a superior alternative to NURBS, the current geometry standard in computer-aided design systems. T-splines can be locally refined and can represent complicated designs as a single watertight geometry. These properties make T-splines an ideal discretization technology for isogeometric analysis and, on a higher level, a foundation upon which unified DTA technologies can be built. We characterize analysis-suitable T-splines and develop corresponding finite element technology, including the appropriate treatment of extraordinary points (i.e., unstructured meshing). Analysis-suitable T-splines form a practically useful subset of T-splines. They maintain the design flexibility of T-splines, including an efficient and highly localized refinement capability, while preserving the important analysis-suitable mathematical properties of the NURBS basis. We identify Bézier extraction as a unifying paradigm underlying all isogeometric element technology. Bézier extraction provides a finite element representation of NURBS or T-splines, and facilitates the incorporation of T-splines into existing finite element programs. Only the shape function subroutine needs to be modified. Additionally, Bézier extraction is automatic and can be applied to any T-spline regardless of topological complexity or polynomial degree. In particular, it represents an elegant treatment of T-junctions, referred to as "hanging nodes" in finite element analysis We then detail a highly localized analysis-suitable h-refinement algorithm. This algorithm introduces a minimal number of superfluous control points and preserves the properties of an analysis-suitable space. Importantly, our local refinement algorithm does not introduce a complex hierarchy of meshes. In other words, all local refinement is done on one control mesh on a single hierarchical “level” and all control points have similar influence on the shape of the surface. This feature is critical for its adoption and usefulness as a design tool. Finally, we explore the behavior of T-splines in finite element analysis. It is demonstrated that T-splines possess similar convergence properties to NURBS with far fewer degrees of freedom. We develop an adaptive isogeometric analysis framework which couples analysis-suitable T-splines, local refinement, and Bézier extraction and apply it to the modeling of damage and fracture processes. These examples demonstrate the feasibility of applying T-spline element technology to very large problems in two and three dimensions and parallel implementations. / text

This paper was presented in WCSMO-9, Shizuoka.

La méthode isogéométrique (IGA) récemment proposée en tant que méthode numérique générique offre de réelles perspectives dans l’unification des modèles géométriques et computationnel. La méthode isogéométrique est intiment liée à la méthode des éléments finis (FEM) étant donné que la méthode est basée sur le même cadre variationnel. Cette méthode a montré dans de nombreuses circonstances de très bonne qualités numériques notamment avec des maillages grossiers (précision numérique, capacité à supporter de grandes déformations…). Notre objectif final dans ce travail est de fournir un environnement de base, numérique et logiciel, pour la simulation de problèmes à champs et physiques multiples pour des pièces élastomériques de type industriel. Dans ce contexte, les points numériques à développer pour l’IGA sont le traitement de l’incompressibilité et le caractère multi-champs du problème thermique dans la formulation de Galerkin. Ainsi dans ce travail nous proposons en premier, un paradigme objet de l’IGA intégré au sein d’une architecture orientée objet en Java, initialement con?ue pour résoudre des problèmes multi-champs couplés en transformations finies. L’approche proposée s’appuie pleinement sur le contexte variationnel existant dans le code dans le cadre des éléments finis pour réduire les développements pour MEF et IGA (une formulation développée en IGA tourne en MEF et vice versa). Dans un second temps, nous avons étudié le problème de l’incompressibilité pour notamment réduire le verrouillage numérique existant toujours sur l’IGA standard. Par un souci de simplicité, nous adoptons des formulations mixtes à 2 champs (déplacement/pression). Afin d’essayer de satisfaire la condition inf-sup en relachant la contrainte sur le déplacement, nous avons développé deux idées de la littérature (naturelle en NURBS) qui consiste à soit dupliquer une fois les n?uds intérieurs du patch des déplacements ou subdiviser les éléments du patch des déplacements. Nous avons étendu ce type d’éléments aux transformations finies. Enfin, et de manière originale, nous avons adopté la même stratégie pour les problèmes à 2-champs pour la thermomécanique. Différentes simulations à petites et grandes déformations confirment le potentiel de l’approche. Enfin, nous évaluons l’ensemble sur un modèle quasi-incompressible thermo-visco-élastique de type Zener sur des éprouvettes classiques dans un contexte physique complexe. / Recently proposed as a general purpose numerical method, the Isogeometric Analysis (IGA) offers great perspective to bridge the gap between CAD and CAE. The IGA is closely related to the finite element method (FEM) as the method is based on the same variational framework. Moreover, this method has shown in many circumstances to be have a better accuracy than the FEM (large mesh distortions…). Our final aim in this work is to simulate complex multiphysics problems for elastomers industrial parts. As matter of fact, the two main numerical issues in this context is the incompressibility/quasi-incompressibility of the material and the thermochemical coupling in Galerkin formulations. First, we propose, a programming paradigm of the IGA in an existing Java object-oriented hierarchy initially designed for solving multi-fields coupled problems at finite strains. We develop an approach that fully take benefit of the original architecture to reduce developments for both FEM and IGA (one problem developed in FEM can be run in IGA and vice versa). Second, we investigate volumetric locking issues persisting for low order NURBS element observed with standard displacement formulation as finite elements. To cure the problem, we adopt two-fields mixed formulation (displacement/pressure) for the sake of simplicity and target at assessing different discretizations in stability (inf-sup condition). The basic idea is to first to increase the internal knot’s multiplicity or to subdivide the patch for displacements. These ideas that are directly inspired from patches properties, have been found in the literature for the Stokes problem and extended to large strain in solid mechanics. The comparison between the two-fields mixed formulation and a strain projection method is lead at small and large strains. At last, we originally adopt a similar strategy for thermomechanical problem at small and large strains. In the context two-fields formulation, displacement/temperature, the LBB stability condition must be fulfilled to guaranty stability. Thus, we investigate the choices of patches for two-fields formulation displacement/temperature fields for IGA applied to thermoelasticity. Several numerical results for thermomechanical problems at small and finite strains, linear and nonlinear have been presented. At last, an incompressible viscous thermo-hyperelastic model is evaluated in the IGA framework with the proposed approach.

Isogeometric analysis (IGA) is a numerical method for solving partial differential equations (PDE). In this master thesis we explain a concept of IGA with special emphasis on problems on closed domains created by a single NURBS patch. For them we show a process how to modify the NURBS basis to ensure the highest possible continuity of the function space. Then we solve the minimal surface problem using two different Newton type methods. The first one is based on the classical approach using PDE, in the second one we use unique advantages of IGA to directly minimize the area functional.

The objective of this work is to develop a novel 3-D biological particulate dynamics framework to simulate blood flow in the micro circulation. This entails the amalgamation of concepts from various fields namely blood flow dynamics, solid mechanics, fluid-structure interaction and computational data structures. It is envisioned that this project will serve as a harbinger for implementing a multi-scale simulation model with applications in a vast array of situations from blood flows in heart valves to studying cancer metastasis. The primary motivation for this work stems from the need for establishing a simple, effective and holistic framework for performing blood flow simulations, taking into account the extremely 3-D nature of flow, the particle interactions and fluid structure interaction between blood and its constituent elements. Many current models to simulate blood cells rely on finite element methods which render large scale simulations extremely computationally intensive. The development of a framework for simulating blood flow is tied together with achieving a framework for performing an investigation of cancer metastasis. Cancer initially develops at a primary site and spreads through the body to secondary sites using the circulatory systems of the body - the blood circulatory system and the lymphatic system. It is known that all the cancer cells that enter into the circulation do not survive the harsh environment, though the exact cause of this is still undetermined. Moreover, the mechanical properties of cancer cells are not well documented and appropriate computational models require that experiments be conducted to determine the same. Thus the end goal of this work is to establish a system to analyze and simulate 3-D blood particulate dynamics, including cancer cells, from a holistic standpoint in order to understand more about the phenomenon of blood flow as a whole, and cancer metastasis in particular.

The discretization of time-dependent wave propagation is plagued with dispersion in which the wavefield is perceived to travel with an erroneous velocity. To remediate the problem, simulations are run on dense and computationally expensive grids yielding plausible approximate solutions. This work introduces an error analysis tool which can be used to obtain optimal simulation parameters that account for mesh size, orders of spatial and temporal discretizations, angles of propagation, temporal stability conditions (usually referred to as CFL conditions), and time of propagation. The classical criteria of 10-15 nodes per wavelength for second-order finite differences, and 4-5 nodes per wavelength for fourth-order spectral elements are shown to be unrealistic and overly-optimistic simulation parameters for different propagation times. This work analyzes finite differences, spectral elements, optimally-blended spectral elements, and isogeometric analysis.

Numerical techniques for linear systems arising from discretization of partial differential equations are nowadays essential for understanding the physical world. Among these techniques, iterative methods and the accompanying preconditioning techniques have become increasingly popular due to their great potential on large scale computation. In this work, we present preconditioning techniques for linear systems built with tensor product basis functions. Efficient algorithms are designed for various problems by exploiting the Kronecker product structure in the matrices, inherited from tensor product basis functions. Specifically, we design preconditioners for mass matrices to remove the complexity from the basis functions used in isogeometric analysis, obtaining numerical performance independent of mesh size, polynomial order and continuity order; we also present a compound iteration preconditioner for stiffness matrices in two dimensions, obtaining fast convergence speed; lastly, for the Helmholtz problem, we present a strategy to `hide' its indefiniteness from Krylov subspace methods by eliminating the part of initial error that corresponds to those negative generalized eigenvalues. For all three cases, the Kronecker product structure in the matrices is exploited to achieve high computational efficiency.

Within this thesis, thin walled shell structures are discussed with modern element formulationsin the context of the Isogeometric Analysis (IGA). IGA was designed to achieve a directinterface from CAD to analysis. According to the concept of IGA, Non-Uniform RationalB-Splines (NURBS) are used as shape functions in the design and the analysis. Dependingon the polynomial order, NURBS can come along with a high order continuity. Therefore,the curvature of a shell surface can be described directly by the shape function derivativeswhich is not possible within the classical Finite Element Analysis (FEA) using linear meshes.This description of the curvature gives rise to the application of the Kirchho-Love shellformulation, which describes the curvature stiness with the dierentiation of the spatialdegrees of freedom. Based upon this, the formulation can be enhanced with further kinematicalexpressions as the shear dierence vector, which leads to a 5-parameter Reissner-Mindlinformulation. This kinematic formulation is intrinsically free from transverse shear lockingdue to the split into Kirchho-Love and additional shear contributions. The formulation canbe further extended to a 7-parameter three-dimensional shell element, which considers volumetriceects in the thickness direction. Two additional parameters are engaged to describethe related thickness changes under load and to enable the use of three-dimensional materiallaws. In general, three-dimensional shell elements suer from curvature thickness and Poisson'sthickness locking. However, these locking phenomena are intrinsically avoided by thehierarchic application of the shear dierence vector and the 7th parameter respectively. The3-parameter Kirchho-Love, the 5-parameter Reissner-Mindlin and the 7-parameter 3D shellelement build a hierarchic family of model-adaptive shells.This hierarchic family of shell elements is presented and discussed in the scope of this thesis.The concept and the properties of the single elements are elaborated and the dierences arediscussed. Geometrically linear and non-linear benchmark examples are simulated. Convergencestudies are performed and the results are validated against analytical solutionsand solutions from literature, taking into account deections and internal forces. Furthermore,the dierent locking phenomena which occur in analyses with shell formulations areexamined. Several test cases are designed to ensure a validated implementation of the hierarchicshell elements. The element formulations and further pre- and postprocessing featuresare implemented and validated within the open-source software environment Kratos Multi-physics.

<div>Many Engineering structures, including electronic component assemblies, are inherently multi-scale in nature. These structures often experience complex local nonlinear behavior such as plasticity, damage or fracture. These local behaviors eventually lead to the failure at the macro length scale. Connecting the behavior across the length scales to develop an understanding of the failure mechanism is important for developing reliable products.</div><div><br></div><div>To solve multi-scale problems in which the critical region is much smaller than the entire structure, an iterative solution approach based on domain decomposition techniques is proposed. Two independent models are constructed to model the global and local substructures respectively. The unbalanced force at the interface is iteratively reduced to ensure force equilibrium of the overall structure in the final solution. The approach is non-intrusive since only nodal values on the interface are transferred between the global and local models. Solution acceleration using SR1 and BFGS updates is also demonstrated. Equally importantly, the two updates are applied in a non-intrusive manner, meaning that the technique is implemented without needing access to the codes using which the sub-domains are analyzed. Code- and mesh-agnostic solutions for problems with local nonlinear material behavior or local crack growth are demonstrated. Analysis in which the global and local models are solved using two different commercial codes is also demonstrated.</div><div><br></div><div>Engineering analysis using numerical models are helpful in providing insight into the connection between the structure, loading history, behavior and failure. Specifically, Isogeometric analysis (IGA) is advantageous for engineering problems with evolving geometry compared to the traditional finite element method (FEM). IGA carries out analysis by building behavioral approximations isoparametrically on the geometrical model (commonly NURBS) and is thus a promising approach to integrating Computer-Aided Design (CAD) with Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE).</div><div><br></div><div>In enriched isogeometric Analysis (EIGA), the solution is enriched with known behavior on lower dimensional geometrical features such as crack tips or interfaces. In the present research, enriched field approximation techniques are developed for the application of boundary conditions, coupling patches with non-matching discretizations and for modeling singular stresses in the structure.</div><div><br></div><div>The first problem solution discussed is to apply Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions on boundary representation (B-rep) CAD models immersed in an underlying domain of regular grid points. The boundary conditions are applied on the degrees of freedom of the lower dimensional B-rep part directly. The solution approach for the immersed analysis uses signed algebraic level sets constructed from the B-rep surfaces to blend the enriched</div><div>field with the underlying field. The algebraic level sets provide a surrogate for distance, are non-iteratively (or algebraically) computed and allow implicit Boolean compositions.</div><div><br></div><div>The methodology is also applied to couple solution approximations of decomposed patches by smoothly blending incompatible geometries to an arbitrary degree of smoothness. A parametrically described frame or interface is introduced to “stitch” the adjacent patches. A hierarchical blending procedure is then developed to stitch multiple unstructured patches including those with T-junctions or extraordinary vertices.</div><div><br></div><div>Finally, using the EIGA technique, a computational method for analyzing general multimaterial sharp corners that enables accurate estimations of the generalized stress intensity factors is proposed. Explicitly modeled geometries of material junctions, crack tips and deboned interfaces are isogeometrically and hierarchically enriched to construct approximations with the known local behavior. specifically, a vertex enrichment is used to approximate the asymptotic field near the re-entrant corner or crack tip, Heaviside function is used to approximate the discontinuous crack face and the parametric smooth stitching technique is used to approximate the behavior across material interface. The developed method allows direct extraction of generalized stress intensity factors without needing a posteriori evaluation of path independent integrals for decisions on crack propagation. The numerical implementation is validated through analysis of a bi-material corner, interface crack and growth of an inclined crack in a homogeneous solid. The developed procedure demonstrates rapid convergence to the solution stress intensity factors with relatively fewer degrees of freedom, even with uniformly coarse discretizations.</div>

Non-uniform rational B-splines (NURBS) methodology is presented, on which the isogeometric analysis is based. T-splines are also introduced as a surface design methodology, which are a generalization of NURBS and permit local refinement. Isogeometric analysis using NURBS and T-splines are applied separately to a structural mechanics problem. The results are compared with the closed-form solution. The desirable performance of isogeometric analysis using T-splines on engineering analysis is demonstrated.