High-fidelity non-linear analysis of metal sandwich panels
File(s)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Nordas, Alexander
Santos, Luis
Izzuddin, Bassam
Macorini, Lorenzo
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The considerably superior specific strength and stiffness of sandwich panels in relation to conventional structural components makes their employment for two-way spanning structural applications a highly attractive option. An effective high-fidelity numerical modelling strategy for large-scale metal sandwich panels is presented in this paper, which enables the capturing of the various forms of local buckling and its progression over the panel domain, alongside the effects of material non-linearity and the spread of plasticity. The modelling strategy is further enhanced with a novel domain-partitioning methodology, allowing for scalable parallel processing on high-performance computing distributed memory systems. Partitioned modelling achieves a substantial reduction of the wall-clock time and computing memory demand for extensive non-linear static and dynamic analyses, while further overcoming potential memory bottlenecks encountered when conventional modelling and solution procedures are employed. A comparative evaluation of the speed-up achieved using partitioned modelling, in relation to monolithic models, is conducted for different levels of partitioning. Finally, practical guidance is proposed for establishing the optimal number of partitions offering maximum speed-up, beyond which further partitioning leads to excesses both in the non-linear solution procedure and the communication overhead between parallel processors, with a consequent increase in computing time.
Date Issued
2018-11-14
Date Acceptance
2018-07-26
Citation
Proceedings of the ICE - Engineering and Computational Mechanics, 2018, 171 (2), pp.79-96
ISSN
1755-0777
Publisher
Thomas Telford
Start Page
79
End Page
96
Journal / Book Title
Proceedings of the ICE - Engineering and Computational Mechanics
Volume
171
Issue
2
Sponsor
POSCO (South Korea)
Amec Foster Wheeler Group Limited
Grant Number
Ref: 506-81-00017
Studentship Agreement
Subjects
Science & Technology
Technology
Engineering, Civil
Engineering
composite structures
computational mechanics
shells
HONEYCOMB
0905 Civil Engineering
0912 Materials Engineering
0913 Mechanical Engineering
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
1800022
Date Publish Online
2018-08-06