Pierre Gosselet

Non-overlapping domain decomposition methods in structural mechanics

SummaryThe modern design of industrial structures leads to very complex simulations characterized by nonlinearities, high heterogeneities, tortuous geometries... Whatever the modelization may be, such an analysis leads to the solution to a family of large ill-conditioned linear systems. In this paper we study strategies to efficiently solve to linear system based on non-overlapping domain decomposition methods. We present a review of most employed approaches and their strong connection. We outline their mechanical interpretations as well as the practical issues when willing to implement and use them. Numerical properties are illustrated by various assessments from academic to industrial problems. An hybrid approach, mainly designed for multifield problems, is also introduced as it provides a general framework of such approaches.

A three-scale domain decomposition method for the 3D analysis of debonding in laminates

The prediction of the quasi-static response of industrial laminate structures requires to use fine descriptions of the material, especially when debonding is involved. Even when modeled at the mesoscale, the computation of these structures results in very large numerical problems. In this paper, the exact mesoscale solution is sought using parallel iterative solvers. The LaTIn-based mixed domain decomposition method makes it very easy to handle the complex description of the structure; moreover the provided multiscale features enable us to deal with numerical difficulties at their natural scale; we present the various enhancements we developed to ensure the scalability of the method. An extension of the method designed to handle instabilities is also presented.

On the control of the load increments for a proper description of multiple delamination in a domain decomposition framework

In quasi-static non-linear time-dependent analysis, the choice of the time discretization is a complex issue. The most basic strategy consists in determining a value of the load increment that ensures the convergence of the solution with respect to time on the base of preliminary simulations. In more advanced applications, the load increments can be controlled for instance by prescribing the number of iterations of the non-linear resolution procedure, or by using an arc-length algorithm. These techniques usually introduce a parameter whose correct value is not easy to obtain. In this paper, an alternative procedure is proposed. It is based on the continuous control of the residual of the reference problem over time, whose measure is easy to interpret. This idea is applied in the framework of a multiscale domain decomposition strategy in order to perform 3D delamination analysis. Copyright

Fast estimation of discretization error for FE problems solved by domain decomposition

This paper presents a strategy for a posteriori error estimation for substructured problems solved by non-overlapping domain decomposition methods. We focus on global estimates of the discretization error obtained through the error in constitutive relation for linear mechanical problems. Our method allows to compute error estimate in a fully parallel way for both primal (BDD) and dual (FETI) approaches of non-overlapping domain decomposition whatever the state (converged or not) of the associated iterative solver. Results obtained on an academic problem show that the strategy we propose is efficient in the sense that correct estimation is obtained with fully parallel computations; they also indicate that the estimation of the discretization error reaches sufficient precision in very few iterations of the domain decomposition solver, which enables to consider highly effective adaptive computational strategies.

On the initial estimate of interface forces in FETI methods

The balanced domain decomposition (BDD) method and the finite element tearing and interconnecting (FETI) method are two commonly used non-overlapping domain decomposition methods. Due to strong theoretical and numerical similarities, these two methods are generally considered as being equivalently efficient. However, for some particular cases, such as for structures with strong heterogeneities, FETI requires a large number of iterations to compute the solution compared to BDD. In this paper, the origin of the poor efficiency of FETI in these particular cases is traced back to bad initial estimates of the interface stresses. To improve the estimation of interface forces, a novel strategy for splitting interface forces between neighboring substructures is proposed. The additional computational cost incurred is not significant. This yields a new initialization for the FETI method and restores numerical efficiency which makes FETI comparable to BDD even for problems where FETI was performing poorly. Various simple test problems are presented to discuss the efficiency of the proposed strategy and to illustrate the so-obtained numerical equivalence between the BDD and FETI solvers.

Total and selective reuse of Krylov subspaces for the resolution of sequences of nonlinear structural problems

This paper deals with the definition and optimization of augmentation spaces for faster convergence of the conjugate gradient method in the resolution of sequences of linear systems. Using advanced convergence results from the literature, we present a procedure based on a selection of relevant approximations of the eigenspaces for extracting, selecting and reusing information from the Krylov subspaces generated by previous solutions in order to accelerate the current iteration. Assessments of the method are proposed in the cases of both linear and nonlinear structural problems.

Nonintrusive coupling of 3D and 2D laminated composite models based on finite element 3D recovery

In order to simulate the mechanical behavior of large structures assembled from thin composite panels, we propose a coupling technique which substitutes local 3D models for the global plate model in the critical zones where plate modeling is inadequate. The transition from 3D to 2D is based on stress and displacement distributions associated with Saint-Venant problems which are precalculated automatically for a simple 3D cell. The hybrid plate/3D model is obtained after convergence of a series of iterations between a global plate model of the structure and localized 3D models of the critical zones. This technique is nonintrusive because the global calculations can be carried out using commercial software. Evaluation tests show that convergence is fast and that the resulting hybrid model is very close to a full 3D model.

On a multiscale strategy and its optimization for the simulation of combined delamination and buckling

This paper investigates a computational strategy for studying the interactions between multiple through-the-width delaminations and global or local buckling in composite laminates taking into account possible contact between the delaminated surfaces. In order to achieve an accurate prediction of the quasi-static response, a very refined discretization of the structure is required, leading to the resolution of very large and highly nonlinear numerical problems. In this paper, a nonlinear finite element formulation along with a parallel iterative scheme based on a multiscale domain decomposition are used for the computation of 3D mesoscale models. Previous works by the authors already dealt with the simulation of multiscale delamination assuming small perturbations. This paper presents the formulation used to include geometric nonlinearities into this existing multiscale framework and discusses the adaptations that need to be made to the iterative process in order to ensure the rapid convergence and the scalability of the method in the presence of buckling and delamination. These various adaptations are illustrated by simulations involving large numbers of DOFs.

Study of the strong prolongation equation for the construction of statically admissible stress fields: implementation and optimization

This paper focuses on the construction of statically admissible stress fields (SA-fields) for a posteriori error estimation. In the context of verification, the recovery of such fields enables to provide strict upper bounds of the energy norm of the discretization error between the known finite element solution and the unavailable exact solution. The reconstruction is a difficult and decisive step insofar as the effectiveness of the estimator strongly depends on the quality of the SA-fields. This paper examines the strong prolongation hypothesis, which is the starting point of the Element Equilibration Technique (EET). We manage to characterize the full space of SA-fields satisfying the prolongation equation so that optimizing inside this space is possible. The computation exploits topological properties of the mesh so that implementation is easy and costs remain controlled. In this paper, we describe the new technique in details and compare it to the classical EET and to the flux-free technique for different 2D mechanical problems. The method is explained on first degree triangular elements, but we show how extensions to different elements and to 3D are straightforward.

A strict error bound with separated contributions of the discretization and of the iterative solver in non-overlapping domain decomposition methods

This paper deals with the estimation of the distance between the solution of a static linear mechanic problem and its approximation by the finite element method solved with a non-overlapping domain decomposition method (FETI or BDD). We propose a new strict upper bound of the error which separates the contribution of the iterative solver and the contribution of the discretization. Numerical assessments show that the bound is sharp and enables us to define an objective stopping criterion for the iterative solver.