A Dual Super-Element Domain Decomposition Approach for Parallel Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis
File(s)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Jokhio, GA
Izzuddin, BA
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
This article presents a new domain decomposition method for nonlinear finite element analysis introducing the concept of dual partition super-elements. The method extends ideas from the displacement frame method and is ideally suited for parallel nonlinear static/dynamic analysis of structural systems. In the new method, domain decomposition is realized by replacing one or more subdomains in a "parent system," each with a placeholder super-element, where the subdomains are processed separately as "child partitions," each wrapped by a dual super-element along the partition boundary. The analysis of the overall system, including the satisfaction of equilibrium and compatibility at all partition boundaries, is realized through direct communication between all pairs of placeholder and dual super-elements. The proposed method has particular advantages for matrix solution methods based on the frontal scheme, and can be readily implemented for existing finite element analysis programs to achieve parallelization on distributed memory systems with minimal intervention, thus overcoming memory bottlenecks typically faced in the analysis of large-scale problems. Several examples are presented in this article which demonstrate the computational benefits of the proposed parallel domain decomposition approach and its applicability to the nonlinear structural analysis of realistic structural systems.
Date Issued
2015-05-15
Date Acceptance
2015-05-15
Citation
International Journal of Computational Methods in Engineering Science and Mechanics, 2015, 16 (3), pp.188-212
ISSN
1550-2295
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Start Page
188
End Page
212
Journal / Book Title
International Journal of Computational Methods in Engineering Science and Mechanics
Volume
16
Issue
3
Copyright Statement
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in International Journal of Computational Methods in Engineering Science and Mechanics on 15 May 2015, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/15502287.2015.1043163
Subjects
Domain Decomposition
Dual Super-Elements
Finite Element Analysis
Nonlinear Analysis
Parallel Processing
Distributed Memory Systems
Publication Status
Published