In this dissertation, we first provide a short introduction to qualitative homogenization of elliptic equations and systems. We collect relevant and known results regarding elliptic equations and systems with rapidly oscillating, periodic coefficients, which is the classical setting in homogenization of elliptic equations and systems. We extend several classical results to the so called case of perforated domains and consider materials reinforced with soft inclusions. We establish quantitative H1-convergence rates in both settings, and as a result deduce large-scale Lipschitz estimates and Liouville-type estimates for solutions to elliptic systems with rapidly oscillating periodic bounded and measurable coefficients. Finally, we connect these large-scale estimates with local regulartity results at the microscopic-level to achieve interior Lipschitz regularity at every scale.

In this dissertation, we study the mixed finite element method for the linear plane elasticity problem and iterative solvers for the resulting discrete system. We use the Arnold-Winther Element in the mixed finite element discretization. An overlapping Schwarz preconditioner and a multigrid preconditioner for the discrete system are developed and analyzed. We start by introducing the mixed formulation (stress-displacement formulation) for the linear plane elasticity problem and its discretization. A detailed analysis of the Arnold-Winther Element is given. The finite element discretization of the mixed formulation leads to a symmetric indefinite linear system. Next, we study efficient iterative solvers for the symmetric indefinite linear system which arises from the mixed finite element discretization of the linear plane elasticity problem. The preconditioned Minimum Residual Method is considered. It is shown that the problem of constructing a preconditioner for the indefinite linear system can be reduced to the problem of constructing a preconditioner for the H(div) problem in the Arnold-Winther finite element space. Our main work involves developing an overlapping Schwarz preconditioner and a multigrid preconditioner for the H(div) problem. We give condition number estimates for the preconditioned systems together with supporting numerical results.

In this dissertation, we study the mixed finite element method for the linear plane elasticity problem and iterative solvers for the resulting discrete system. We use the Arnold-Winther Element in the mixed finite element discretization. An overlapping Schwarz preconditioner and a multigrid preconditioner for the discrete system are developed and analyzed. We start by introducing the mixed formulation (stress-displacement formulation) for the linear plane elasticity problem and its discretization. A detailed analysis of the Arnold-Winther Element is given. The finite element discretization of the mixed formulation leads to a symmetric indefinite linear system. Next, we study efficient iterative solvers for the symmetric indefinite linear system which arises from the mixed finite element discretization of the linear plane elasticity problem. The preconditioned Minimum Residual Method is considered. It is shown that the problem of constructing a preconditioner for the indefinite linear system can be reduced to the problem of constructing a preconditioner for the H(div) problem in the Arnold-Winther finite element space. Our main work involves developing an overlapping Schwarz preconditioner and a multigrid preconditioner for the H(div) problem. We give condition number estimates for the preconditioned systems together with supporting numerical results.

Modern engineering analysis requires accurate, reliable and efficient evaluation of outputs of interest. These outputs are functions of "input" parameter that serve to describe a particular configuration of the system, typical input geometry, material properties, or boundary conditions and loads. In many cases, the input-output relationship is a functional of the field variable - which is the solution to an input-parametrized partial differential equations (PDE). The reduced-basis approximation, adopting off-line/on-line computational procedures, allows us to compute accurate and reliable functional outputs of PDEs with rigorous error estimations. The operation count for the on-line stage depends only on a small number N and the parametric complexity of the problem, which make the reduced-basis approximation especially suitable for complex analysis such as optimizations and designs. In this work we focus on the development of finite-element and reduced-basis methodology for the accurate, fast, and reliable prediction of the stress intensity factors or strain-energy release rate of a mode-I linear elastic fracture problem. With the use of off-line/on-line computational strategy, the stress intensity factor for a particular problem can be obtained in miliseconds. The method opens a new promising prospect: not only are the numerical results obtained only in miliseconds with great savings in computational time; the results are also reliable - thanks to the rigorous and sharp a posteriori error bounds. The practical uses of our prediction are presented through several example problems. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

A avaliação numérica das cargas limites (de colapso) de estruturas é obtida geralmente ou pela aplicação direta dos teoremas de análise limite junto com processos de otimização ou mediante análises incrementais, que levam em consideração o comportamento elasto-plástico do material. Entretanto, ambas as estratégias conduzem eventualmente a dificuldades numéricas, particularmente para cargas próximas à de colapso. Neste trabalho, emprega-se uma alternativa que consiste em simular assintoticamente o comportamento elasto-plástico mediante uma relação elástica não-linear. As vantagens deste tipo de formulação são a possibilidade de se lidar com leis de fluxo não-associadas e um custo computacional reduzido. A relação elástica não-linear é implementada no programa comercial de elementos finitos ABAQUS, através de uma sub-rotina externa ao programa escrita em linguagem FORTRAN. Diversos exemplos de estruturas cujos materiais são regidos pelos critérios de resistência de von Mises e Drucker-Prager são modelados, verificando-se que os resultados das cargas limites obtidas com essa formulação são muito próximos daqueles encontrados na literatura. Por fim, a relação elástica não-linear é empregada para a determinação do domínio de resistência de meios porosos, com diferentes níveis de porosidade. / The numerical assessment of limit loads of structures is generally achieved through the direct implementation of limit analysis theorems together with optimization processes, or through incremental analyses, which account for the elastic-plastic behavior of the material. However, both the strategies may lead to numerical difficulties, particularly when the load is close to its limit value. In this context, the alternative approach presented in this work consists in simulating asymptotically the regime of free plastic flow by means of a fictitious non-linear elastic material. One of the main advantages of this kind of formulation lies in its ability to deal with non-associated flow rules and a reduced computational cost. The non-linear elastic behavior is implemented into the finite element computational software ABAQUS, making use of an external subroutine written in FORTRAN language. Several examples of geotechnical and structural problems with materials ruled by von Mises and Drucker-Prager failure criteria are analyzed. The results obtained with this formulation prove to be very close to those obtained through analytical solutions. At last, the non-linear elastic relation is used in the determination of the resistance domain of porous media with different levels of porosity.

A avaliação numérica das cargas limites (de colapso) de estruturas é obtida geralmente ou pela aplicação direta dos teoremas de análise limite junto com processos de otimização ou mediante análises incrementais, que levam em consideração o comportamento elasto-plástico do material. Entretanto, ambas as estratégias conduzem eventualmente a dificuldades numéricas, particularmente para cargas próximas à de colapso. Neste trabalho, emprega-se uma alternativa que consiste em simular assintoticamente o comportamento elasto-plástico mediante uma relação elástica não-linear. As vantagens deste tipo de formulação são a possibilidade de se lidar com leis de fluxo não-associadas e um custo computacional reduzido. A relação elástica não-linear é implementada no programa comercial de elementos finitos ABAQUS, através de uma sub-rotina externa ao programa escrita em linguagem FORTRAN. Diversos exemplos de estruturas cujos materiais são regidos pelos critérios de resistência de von Mises e Drucker-Prager são modelados, verificando-se que os resultados das cargas limites obtidas com essa formulação são muito próximos daqueles encontrados na literatura. Por fim, a relação elástica não-linear é empregada para a determinação do domínio de resistência de meios porosos, com diferentes níveis de porosidade. / The numerical assessment of limit loads of structures is generally achieved through the direct implementation of limit analysis theorems together with optimization processes, or through incremental analyses, which account for the elastic-plastic behavior of the material. However, both the strategies may lead to numerical difficulties, particularly when the load is close to its limit value. In this context, the alternative approach presented in this work consists in simulating asymptotically the regime of free plastic flow by means of a fictitious non-linear elastic material. One of the main advantages of this kind of formulation lies in its ability to deal with non-associated flow rules and a reduced computational cost. The non-linear elastic behavior is implemented into the finite element computational software ABAQUS, making use of an external subroutine written in FORTRAN language. Several examples of geotechnical and structural problems with materials ruled by von Mises and Drucker-Prager failure criteria are analyzed. The results obtained with this formulation prove to be very close to those obtained through analytical solutions. At last, the non-linear elastic relation is used in the determination of the resistance domain of porous media with different levels of porosity.

No description available.

A avaliação numérica das cargas limites (de colapso) de estruturas é obtida geralmente ou pela aplicação direta dos teoremas de análise limite junto com processos de otimização ou mediante análises incrementais, que levam em consideração o comportamento elasto-plástico do material. Entretanto, ambas as estratégias conduzem eventualmente a dificuldades numéricas, particularmente para cargas próximas à de colapso. Neste trabalho, emprega-se uma alternativa que consiste em simular assintoticamente o comportamento elasto-plástico mediante uma relação elástica não-linear. As vantagens deste tipo de formulação são a possibilidade de se lidar com leis de fluxo não-associadas e um custo computacional reduzido. A relação elástica não-linear é implementada no programa comercial de elementos finitos ABAQUS, através de uma sub-rotina externa ao programa escrita em linguagem FORTRAN. Diversos exemplos de estruturas cujos materiais são regidos pelos critérios de resistência de von Mises e Drucker-Prager são modelados, verificando-se que os resultados das cargas limites obtidas com essa formulação são muito próximos daqueles encontrados na literatura. Por fim, a relação elástica não-linear é empregada para a determinação do domínio de resistência de meios porosos, com diferentes níveis de porosidade. / The numerical assessment of limit loads of structures is generally achieved through the direct implementation of limit analysis theorems together with optimization processes, or through incremental analyses, which account for the elastic-plastic behavior of the material. However, both the strategies may lead to numerical difficulties, particularly when the load is close to its limit value. In this context, the alternative approach presented in this work consists in simulating asymptotically the regime of free plastic flow by means of a fictitious non-linear elastic material. One of the main advantages of this kind of formulation lies in its ability to deal with non-associated flow rules and a reduced computational cost. The non-linear elastic behavior is implemented into the finite element computational software ABAQUS, making use of an external subroutine written in FORTRAN language. Several examples of geotechnical and structural problems with materials ruled by von Mises and Drucker-Prager failure criteria are analyzed. The results obtained with this formulation prove to be very close to those obtained through analytical solutions. At last, the non-linear elastic relation is used in the determination of the resistance domain of porous media with different levels of porosity.

The solutions to certain elliptic boundary value problems have singularities with a typical structure near polyhedral corners. This structure can be exploited to devise an eigenvalue problem whose solution can be used to quantify the singularities of the given boundary value problem. It is necessary to parametrize a ball centered at the corner. There are different possibilities for a suitable parametrization; from the numerical point of view, spherical coordinates are not necessarily the best choice. This is why we do not specify a parametrization in this paper but present all results in a rather general form. We derive the eigenvalue problems that are associated with the Laplace and the linear elasticity problems and show interesting spectral properties. Finally, we discuss the necessity of widely accepted symmetry properties of the elasticity tensor. We show in an example that some of these properties are not only dispensable, but even invalid, although claimed in many standard books on linear elasticity.

The constant gamma in the strengthened Cauchy-Bunyakowskii-Schwarz inequality is a basic tool for constructing of two-level and multilevel preconditioning matrices. Therefore many authors consider estimates or computations of this quantity. In this paper the bilinear form arising from 3D linear elasticity problems is considered on a polyhedron. The cosine of the abstract angle between multilevel finite element subspaces is computed by a spectral analysis of a general eigenvalue problem. Octasection and bisection approaches are used for refining the triangulations. Tetrahedron, pentahedron and hexahedron meshes are considered. The dependence of the constant $\gamma$ on the Poisson ratio is presented graphically.