• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제76권3호
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• pp.379-393
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• 2020

In this paper, we propose an automatic procedure to improve the accuracy of finite element solutions using enriched 2D solid finite elements (4-node quadrilateral and 3-node triangular elements). The enriched elements can improve solution accuracy without mesh refinement by adding cover functions to the displacement interpolation of the standard elements. The enrichment scheme is more effective when used adaptively for areas with insufficient accuracy rather than the entire model. For given meshes, an error for each node is estimated, and then proper degrees of cover functions are applied to the selected nodes. A new error estimation method and cover function selection scheme are devised for the proposed adaptive enrichment scheme. Herein, we demonstrate the proposed enrichment scheme through several 2D problems.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제76권4호
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• pp.505-512
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• 2020

This paper presents an error estimation technique for 2-D crack analysis by an enriched natural element (more exactly, enriched Petrov-Galerkin NEM). A bare solution was approximated by PG-NEM using Laplace interpolation functions. Meanwhile, an accurate quasi-exact solution was obtained by a combined use of enriched PG-NEM and the global patch recovery. The Laplace interpolation functions are enriched with the near-tip singular fields, and the approximate solution obtained by enriched PG-NEM was enhanced by the global patch recovery. The quantitative error amount is measured in terms of the energy norm, and the accuracy (i.e., the effective index) of the proposed method was evaluated using the errors which obtained by FEM using a very fine mesh. The error distribution was investigated by calculating the local element-wise errors, from which it has been found that the relative high errors occurs in the vicinity of crack tip. The differences between the enriched and non-enriched PG-NEMs have been investigated from the effective index, the error distribution, and the convergence rate. From the comparison, it has been justified that the enriched PG-NEM provides much more accurate error information than the non-enriched PG-NEM.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제73권1호
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• pp.1-16
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• 2020

Finite elements based on the partition of unity (PU) approximation have powerful capabilities for p-adaptivity and solutions with high smoothness without remeshing of the domain. Recently, the PU approximation was successfully applied to the three-node shell finite element, properly eliminating transverse shear locking and showing excellent convergence properties and solution accuracy. However, the enrichment with the PU approximation results in a significant increase in the number of degrees of freedom; therefore, it requires greater computational cost, thus making it less suitable for practical engineering. To circumvent this disadvantage, we propose a new strategy to decrease the total number of degrees of freedom in the existing PU-based shell element, without loss of optimal convergence and accuracy. To alleviate the locking phenomenon, we use the method of mixed interpolation of tensorial components and perform convergence studies to show the accuracy and capability of the proposed shell element. The excellent performances of the new shell elements are illustrated in three benchmark problems.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제70권6호
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• pp.711-722
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• 2019

Considering stress singularities at point support locations, buckling solutions for plates with arbitrary number of point supports are hard to obtain. Thus, new Hp-Cloud shape functions with Kronecker delta property (HPCK) were developed in the present paper to examine elastic buckling of point-supported thin plates in various shapes. Having the Kronecker delta property, this specific Hp-Cloud shape functions were constructed through selecting particular quantities for influence radii of nodal points as well as proposing appropriate enrichment functions. Since the given quantities for influence radii of nodal points could bring about poor quality of interpolation for plates with sharp corners, the radii were increased and the method of Lagrange multiplier was used for the purpose of applying boundary conditions. To demonstrate the capability of the new Hp-Cloud shape functions in the domain of analyzing plates in different geometry shapes, various test cases were correspondingly investigated and the obtained findings were compared with those available in the related literature. Such results concerning these new Hp-Cloud shape functions revealed a significant consistency with those reported by other researchers.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권1호
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• pp.44-60
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• 2021

In this paper, we validate the decay heat calculation capability via a two-step method to analyze spent nuclear fuel (SNF) discharged from pressurized water reactors (PWRs). The calculation method is implemented with a lattice code STREAM and a nodal diffusion code RAST-K. One of the features of this method is the direct consideration of three-dimensional (3D) core simulation conditions with the advantage of a short simulation time. Other features include the prediction of the isotope inventory by Lagrange non-linear interpolation and the use of power history correction factors. The validation is performed with 58 decay heat measurements of 48 fuel assemblies (FAs) discharged from five PWRs operated in Sweden and the United States. These realistic benchmarks cover the discharge burnup range up to 51 GWd/MTU, 23.2 years of cooling time, and spanning an initial uranium enrichment range of 2.100-4.005 wt percent. The SNF analysis capability of STREAM is also employed in the code-to-code comparison. Compared to the measurements, the validation results of the FA calculation with RAST-K are within ±4%, and the pin-wise results are within ±4.3%. This paper successfully demonstrates that the developed decay heat calculation method can perform SNF back-end cycle analyses.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• 제8권1호
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• pp.71-93
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• 2019

Finite element simulations of solid mechanics problems often involve the use of Non-Confirming Meshes (NCM) to increase accuracy in capturing nonlinear behavior, including damage and plasticity, in part of a solid domain without an undue increase in computational costs. In the presence of material nonlinearity and plasticity, higher-order variables are often needed to capture nonlinear behavior and material history on non-conforming interfaces. The most popular formulations for coupling non-conforming meshes are dual methods that involve the interpolation of a traction field on the interface. These methods are subject to the Ladyzhenskaya-Babuska-Brezzi (LBB) stability condition, and are therefore limited in their implementation with the higher-order elements needed to capture nonlinear material behavior. Alternatively, the enriched discontinuous Galerkin approach (EDGA) (Haikal and Hjelmstad 2010) is a primal method that provides higher order kinematic fields on the interface, and in which interface tractions are computed from local finite element estimates, therefore facilitating its implementation with nonlinear material models. The inclusion of higher-order interface variables, however, presents the issue of preserving material history at integration points when a increase in integration order is needed. In this study, the enriched discontinuous Galerkin approach (EDGA) is extended to the case of small-deformation plasticity. An interface-driven Gauss-Kronrod integration rule is proposed to enable adaptive enrichment on the interface while preserving history-dependent material data at existing integration points. The method is implemented using classical J2 plasticity theory as well as the pressure-dependent Drucker-Prager material model. We show that an efficient treatment of interface variables can improve algorithmic performance and provide a consistent approach for coupling non-conforming meshes in inelasticity.