Search results

This paper gives a bibliographical review of the finite element and boundary element parallel processing techniques from the theoretical and application points of view. Topics include: theory – domain decomposition/partitioning, load balancing, parallel solvers/algorithms, parallel mesh generation, adaptive methods, and visualization/graphics; applications – structural mechanics problems, dynamic problems, material/geometrical non‐linear problems, contact problems, fracture mechanics, field problems, coupled problems, sensitivity and optimization, and other problems; hardware and software environments – hardware environments, programming techniques, and software development and presentations. The bibliography at the end of this paper contains 850 references to papers, conference proceedings and theses/dissertations dealing with presented subjects that were published between 1996 and 2002.

Gives introductory remarks about chapter 1 of this group of 31 papers, from ISEF 1999 Proceedings, in the methodologies for field analysis, in the electromagnetic community. Observes that computer package implementation theory contributes to clarification. Discusses the areas covered by some of the papers ‐ such as artificial intelligence using fuzzy logic. Includes applications such as permanent magnets and looks at eddy current problems. States the finite element method is currently the most popular method used for field computation. Closes by pointing out the amalgam of topics.

The purpose of this paper is to present a fast nonlinear solver for the prediction of transients in network flows.

Broyden method‐based nonlinear solvers are developed to solve the system of conservation equation for fluids by judiciously exploiting physical coupling among the equations.

To demonstrate the feasibility and robustness of the solvers, two test cases of practical engineering interest were solved. The results obtained by the solvers were verified against analytical results for a simplified case. The performance of the solvers was found to be comparable or better than existing solvers.

The proposed solver enables predictions of fluid and thermal transients in complex flow networks feasible in reduced computational time.

The facility layout problem aims to assign machines/departments to locations and modeled as a quadratic assignment problem (QAP). Multi period facility layout is a special case of this problem where the sum of material handling and re‐layout costs are minimized. Since the problem is proved to be NP‐hard, several exact and heuristic methods are proposed in the literature. The purpose of this paper is to solve the multi period layout problem by using the modified sub‐gradient (MSG) algorithm for the first time and to determine its parameters.

The MSG algorithm can solve a large‐scale of optimization problems that also includes multi period facility layout. Since the performance of the algorithm depends on parameters, a design of experiment is made to determine the appropriate parameter values.

The proposed method evaluates the parameters of the MSG algorithm and most suitable general algebraic modeling solvers. It is observed that the parameter α value and solver type have main effects for small and large size test problems. Further, the results stated that solver type has more influence on large size test problem.

This study is limited with the determination of the MSG algorithm parameters and solver types on the well known small and large size test problems. Further studies may include other test problem results obtained from the presented MSG algorithm parameters and compare them with best known results in the literature.

The paper determines the parameters of the MSG algorithm that is used to solve the multi period layout problem, for the first time in the literature.

We report on the progress in the development and application of a coupled boundary element/finite volume method temperature‐forward/flux‐back algorithm developed to solve conjugate heat transfer arising in 3D film‐cooled turbine blades. We adopt a loosely coupled strategy where each set of field equations is solved to provide boundary conditions for the other. Iteration is carried out until interfacial continuity of temperature and heat flux is enforced. The NASA‐Glenn explicit finite volume Navier‐Stokes code Glenn‐HT is coupled to a 3D BEM steady‐state heat conduction solver. Results from a CHT simulation of a 3D film‐cooled blade section are compared with those obtained from the standard two temperature model, revealing that a significant difference in the level and distribution of metal temperatures is found between the two. Finally, current developments of an iterative strategy accommodating large numbers of unknowns by a domain decomposition approach is presented. An iterative scheme is developed along with a physically‐based initial guess and a coarse grid solution to provide a good starting point for the iteration. Results from a 3D simulation show the process that converges efficiently and offers substantial computational and storage savings.

The purpose of this paper is to propose novel factored approximate sparse inverse schemes and multi-level methods for the solution of large sparse linear systems.

The main motive for the derivation of the various generic preconditioning schemes lies to the efficiency and effectiveness of factored preconditioning schemes in conjunction with Krylov subspace iterative methods as well as multi-level techniques for solving various model problems. Factored approximate inverses, namely, Generic Factored Approximate Sparse Inverse, require less fill-in and are computed faster due to the reduced number of nonzero elements. A modified column wise approach, namely, Modified Generic Factored Approximate Sparse Inverse, is also proposed to further enhance performance. The multi-level approximate inverse scheme, namely, Multi-level Algebraic Recursive Generic Approximate Inverse Solver, utilizes a multi-level hierarchy formed using Block Independent Set reordering scheme and an approximation of the Schur complement that results in the solution of reduced order linear systems thus enhancing performance and convergence behavior. Moreover, a theoretical estimate for the quality of the multi-level approximate inverse is also provided.

Application of the proposed schemes to various model problems is discussed and numerical results are given concerning the convergence behavior and the convergence factors. The results are comparatively better than results by other researchers for some of the model problems.

Further enhancements are investigated for the proposed factored approximate inverse schemes as well as the multi-level techniques to improve quality of the schemes. Furthermore, the proposed schemes rely on the definition of multiple parameters that for some problems require thorough testing, thus adaptive techniques to define the values of the various parameters are currently under research. Moreover, parallel schemes will be investigated.

The proposed approximate inverse preconditioning schemes as well as multi-level schemes are efficient computational methods that are valuable for computer scientists and for scientists and engineers in engineering computations.

Transient eddy current formulations based on the Finite Integration Technique (FIT) for the magneto‐quasistatic regime are extended to include motional induction effects of moving conductors with simple geometries by different approaches. A new regularization of the formulation using discrete grad‐div augmentation of the curlcurl formulation is presented and tested. To improve the implicit time integration process, several schemes for an error controlled variable time step selection are presented and for the repetitive solution of the arising large sparse systems of equations a sparse direct solver is compared to iterative methods such as a preconditioned conjugate gradient method and a new algebraic multigrid solver, which is aware of the curlcurl nullspace.

The purpose of this paper is to review the applications of the chemical reactor network (CRN) approach for modeling the combustion in gas turbine combustors and classify the CRN construction methods that have been frequently used by researchers.

This paper initiates with introducing the CRN approach as a practical tool for precisely predicting the species concentrations in the combustion process with lower computational costs. The structure of the CRN and its elements as the ideal reactors are reviewed in recent studies. Flow field modeling has been identified as the most important input for constructing the CRNs; thus, the flow field modeling methods have been extensively reviewed in previous studies. Network approach, component modeling approach and computational fluid dynamics (CFD), as the main flow field modeling methods, are investigated with a focus on the CRN applications. Then, the CRN construction approaches are reviewed and categorized based on extracting the flow field required data. Finally, the most used kinetics and CRN solvers are reviewed and reported in this paper.

It is concluded that the CRN approach can be a useful tool in the entire process of combustion chamber design. One-dimensional and quasi-dimensional methods of flow field modeling are used in the construction of the simple CRNs without detailed geometry data. This approach requires fewer requirements and is used in the initial combustor designing process. In recent years, using the CFD approach in the construction of CRNs has been increased. The flow field results of the CFD codes processed to create the homogeneous regions based on construction criteria. Over the past years, several practical algorithms have been proposed to automatically extract reactor networks from CFD results. These algorithms have been developed to identify homogeneous regions with a high resolution based on the splitting criteria.

This paper reviews the various flow modeling methods used in the construction of the CRNs, along with an overview of the studies carried out in this field. Also, the usual approaches for creating a CRN and the most significant achievements in this field are addressed in detail.

The space discretization of eddy‐current problems in the magnetic vector potential formulation leads to a system of differential‐algebraic equations. They are typically time discretized by an implicit method. This requires the solution of large linear systems in the Newton iterations. The authors seek to speed up this procedure. In most relevant applications, several materials are non‐conducting and behave linearly, e.g. air and insulation materials. The corresponding matrix system parts remain constant but are repeatedly solved during Newton iterations and time‐stepping routines. The paper aims to exploit invariant matrix parts to accelerate the system solution.

Following the principle “reduce, reuse, recycle”, the paper proposes a Schur complement method to precompute a factorization of the linear parts. In 3D models this decomposition requires a regularization in non‐conductive regions. Therefore, the grad‐div regularization is revisited and tailored such that it takes anisotropies into account.

The reduced problem exhibits a decreased effective condition number. Thus, fewer preconditioned conjugate gradient iterations are necessary. Numerical examples show a decrease of the overall simulation time, if the step size is small enough. 3D simulations with large time step sizes might not benefit from this approach, because the better condition does not compensate for the computational costs of the direct solvers used for the Schur complement. The combination of the Schur approach with other more sophisticated preconditioners or multigrid solvers is subject to current research.

The Schur complement method is adapted for the eddy‐current problem. Therefore, a new partitioning approach into linear/non‐linear and static/dynamic domains is proposed. Furthermore, a new variant of the grad‐div gauging is introduced that allows for anisotropies and enables the Schur complement method in 3D.

The purpose of this paper is to present a new framework for designing and implementing simple but effective advanced planning and scheduling (APS) systems in glass container industry by means of spreadsheets.

The conceptual framework for APS system design is developed by integrating principles of end-user computing and mixed-integer programming (MIP). This framework comprises the APS implementation and its integration with enterprise resource planning systems. Such a proposal is applied in a real-world glass bottle manufacturer and its performance assessment is carried out by using metrics of the well-known supply chain operations reference (SCOR) model.

The case study shows that the framework application can improve the responsiveness of glass container supply chain (SC) as well as reduce significantly SC planning costs. A further assessment of the end-user computing satisfaction highlights the general acceptance of the framework.

The proposed framework can assist glass industry managers and practitioners to solve their complex production planning problem since custom solutions are not available for this sector. Another important implication is the possible generalization of the framework given that MIP models for production planning are currently available in the literature for different industries.

On the one hand, the new framework successfully integrates concepts of end-user computing and MIP bridging the gap between theory of aforementioned areas and their practical applications. On the other hand, the paper contributes to the scarce literature on performance evaluation of APS systems and their impact on production system performance. The novel APS gain analysis based on SCOR metrics ensures that the system potential benefits are aligned with the modern concepts of supply chain management.