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Discusses the 27 papers in ISEF 1999 Proceedings on the subject of electromagnetisms. States the groups of papers cover such subjects within the discipline as: induction machines; reluctance motors; PM motors; transformers and reactors; and special problems and applications. Debates all of these in great detail and itemizes each with greater in‐depth discussion of the various technical applications and areas. Concludes that the recommendations made should be adhered to.

This paper aims to investigate the performance of two novel numerical methods, the face-based smoothed finite element method (FS-FEM) and the edge-based smoothed finite element method (ES-FEM), which employ linear tetrahedral elements, for the purpose of strength assessment of a high-speed train hollow axle.

The calculation of stress for the wheelset, comprising an axle and two wheels, is facilitated through the application of the European axle strength design standard. This standard assists in the implementation of loading and boundary conditions and is exemplified by the typical CRH2 high-speed train wheelset. To evaluate the performance of these two methods, a hollow cylinder cantilever beam is first used as a benchmark to compare the present methods with other existing methods. Then, the strength analysis of a real wheelset model with a hollow axle is performed using different numerical methods.

The results of deflection and stress show that FS-FEM and ES-FEM offer higher accuracy and better convergence than FEM using linear tetrahedral elements. ES-FEM exhibits a superior performance to that of FS-FEM using linear tetrahedral elements, showing accuracy and convergence close to FEM using hexahedral elements.

This study channels the novel methods (FS-FEM and ES-FEM) in the static stress analysis of a railway wheelset. Based on the careful testing of FS-FEM and ES-FEM, both methods hold promise as more efficient tools for the strength analysis of complex railway structures.

This paper gives a review of the finite element techniques (FE) applied in the area of material processing. The latest trends in metal forming, non‐metal forming, powder metallurgy and composite material processing are briefly discussed. The range of applications of finite elements on these subjects is extremely wide and cannot be presented in a single paper; therefore the aim of the paper is to give FE researchers/users only an encyclopaedic view of the different possibilities that exist today in the various fields mentioned above. An appendix included at the end of the paper presents a bibliography on finite element applications in material processing for 1994‐1996, where 1,370 references are listed. This bibliography is an updating of the paper written by Brannberg and Mackerle which has been published in Engineering Computations, Vol. 11 No. 5, 1994, pp. 413‐55.

Failure of the materials occurs once the stress intensity factor (SIF) overtakes the material fracture toughness. At this level, the crack will grow rapidly resulting in unstable crack growth until a complete fracture happens. The SIF calculation of the materials can be conducted by experimental, theoretical and numerical techniques. Prediction of SIF is crucial to ensure safety life from the material failure. The aim of the simulation study is to evaluate the accuracy of SIF prediction using finite element analysis.

The bootstrap resampling method is employed in S-version finite element model (S-FEM) to generate the random variables in this simulation analysis. The SIF analysis studies are promoted by bootstrap S-version Finite Element Model (BootstrapS-FEM). Virtual crack closure-integral method (VCCM) is an important concept to compute the energy release rate and SIF. The semielliptical crack shape is applied with different crack shape aspect ratio in this simulation analysis. The BootstrapS-FEM produces the prediction of SIFs for tension model.

The mean of BootstrapS-FEM is calculated from 100 samples by the resampling method. The bounds are computed based on the lower and upper bounds of the hundred samples of BootstrapS-FEM. The prediction of SIFs is validated with Newman–Raju solution and deterministic S-FEM within 95 percent confidence bounds. All possible values of SIF estimation by BootstrapS-FEM are plotted in a graph. The mean of the BootstrapS-FEM is referred to as point estimation. The Newman–Raju solution and deterministic S-FEM values are within the 95 percent confidence bounds. Thus, the BootstrapS-FEM is considered valid for the prediction with less than 6 percent of percentage error.

The bootstrap resampling method is employed in S-FEM to generate the random variables in this simulation analysis.

To determine the optimal dimensions for a stacked micro‐channel using the genetic algorithms (GAs) under different flow constraints.

GA is used as an optimization tool for optimizing the thermal resistance of a stacked micro‐channel under different flow constraints obtained by using the one dimensional (1D) and two dimensional (2D) finite element methods (FEM) and by thermal resistance network model as well (proposed by earlier researcher). The 2D FEM is used to study the effect of two dimensional heat conduction in the micro‐channel material. Some parametric studies are carried out to determine the resulting performance of the stacked micro‐channel. Different number of layers of the stacked micro‐channel is also investigated to study its effect on the minimum thermal resistance.

The results obtained from the 1D FEM analysis compare well with those obtained from the thermal resistance network model. However, the 2D FEM analysis results in lower thermal resistance and, therefore, the importance of considering the conduction in two dimensions in the micro‐channel is highlighted.

The analysis is valid for constant properties fluid and for steady‐state conditions. The top‐most surfaces as well as the side surfaces of the micro‐channel are considered adiabatic.

The method is very useful for practical design of micro‐channel heat‐sinks.

FEM analyses of stacked micro‐channel can be easily implemented in the optimization procedure for obtaining the dimensions of the stacked micro‐channel heat‐sinks for minimum thermal resistance.

This paper gives a review of the finite element techniques (FE) applied in the area of material processing. The latest trends in metal forming, non‐metal forming and powder metallurgy are briefly discussed. The range of applications of finite elements on the subjects is extremely wide and cannot be presented in a single paper; therefore the aim of the paper is to give FE users only an encyclopaedic view of the different possibilities that exist today in the various fields mentioned above. An appendix included at the end of the paper presents a bibliography on finite element applications in material processing for the last five years, and more than 1100 references are listed.

Presents a review on implementing finite element methods on supercomputers, workstations and PCs and gives main trends in hardware and software developments. An appendix included at the end of the paper presents a bibliography on the subjects retrospectively to 1985 and approximately 1,100 references are listed.

In this paper, the polygonal-FEM technique is presented in modeling large deformation – large sliding contact on non-conformal meshes. The purpose of this paper is to present a new technique in modeling arbitrary interfaces and discontinuities for non-linear contact problems by capturing discontinuous deformations in elements cut by the contact surface in uniform non-conformal meshes.

The geometry of contact surface is used to produce various polygonal elements at the intersection of the interface with the regular FE mesh, in which the extra degrees-of-freedom are defined along the interface. The contact constraints are imposed between polygonal elements produced along the contact surface through the node-to-surface contact algorithm.

Numerical convergence analysis is carried out to study the convergence rate for various polygonal interpolation functions, including the Wachspress interpolation functions, the metric shape functions, the natural neighbor-based shape functions, and the mean value shape functions. Finally, numerical examples are solved to demonstrate the efficiency of proposed technique in modeling contact problems in large deformations.

A new technique is presented based on the polygonal-FEM technique in modeling arbitrary interfaces and discontinuities for non-linear contact problems by capturing discontinuous deformations in elements cut by the contact surface in uniform non-conformal meshes.

The purpose of this paper is to present a methodology to predict initial crack growth behavior of crack or notch like stress raisers in AISI 316L(N) stainless steel material subjected to monotonic loading condition.

The methodology for critical crack blunting corresponding to crack initiation in crack or notch like stress raisers is based on critical plastic strain (Epc) at a characteristic distance (lc), where uniform strain (Eu) is considered as Epc and two grain diameter is considered as lc. Further crack growth is based on parabolic crack tip opening displacement (CTOD) scheme established based on coupled experimental and FEM analysis of compact tension (CT) specimen subjected to mode-I loading condition. The FEM predicted load-displacement plots is compared with experimental result of CT specimens with different a/W ratios. It has shown that the proposed methodology could account initial crack blunting appropriately and predict the fracture load and load-displacement plots for initial crack growth regime.

The results show that for crack growth with near straight crack front, experimental data from a CT specimen of particular a/W ratio coupled with plane strain 2D FEM analysis could predict load vs displacement plots for different a/W ratios when initial crack blunting is accounted appropriately with a local damage model.

The present study is a part of developing methods to analyse fracture behavior of AISI 316L(N) SS material components used for fast breeder reactor-based power plant being built at Kalpakkam, India.

Traditional adaptive analysis based on a coarse mesh, using finite element method (FEM) analysis, produces the original solution. Then post-processing the result and figuring out the regions should be refined and these regions refined once. Finally, this new mesh is used to get the solution of first refinement. After several iterations of above procedures, we can achieve the last result that is closer to the true solution, which takes time, making adaptive scheme inpractical to engineering application. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This paper based on FEM proposes a multi-level refinement strategy with a refinement strategy and an indicator. The proposed indicator uses value of the maximum difference of strain energy density among the elements that associated with one node, and divides all nodes into several categories based on the value. A multi-level refinement strategy is proposed according to which category the node belongs to refine different elements to different times rather than whether refine or not.

Multi-level refinement strategy takes full use of the numerical calculation, resulting in the whole adaptive analysis that only need to iterate twice while other schemes must iterate more times. Using much less times of numerical calculation and approaches, more accurate solution, making adaptive analysis more practical to engineering.

Multi-level refinement strategy takes full use of the numerical calculation, resulting in the whole adaptive analysis only need iterate twice while other schemes must iterate more times. using much less times of numerical calculation and approaches more accurate solution, making adaptive analysis more practical to engineering.