We propose a multi-layer approach to simulate hyperpycnal and hypopycnal plumes in flows with free surface. The model allows to compute the vertical profile of the horizontal and the vertical components of the velocity of the fluid flow. The model can describe as well the vertical profile of the sediment concentration and the velocity components of each one of the sediment species that form the turbidity current. To do so, it takes into account the settling velocity of the particles and their interaction with the fluid. This allows to better describe the phenomena than a single layer approach. It is in better agreement with the physics of the problem and gives promising results. The numerical simulation is carried out by rewriting the multilayer approach in a compact formulation, which corresponds to a system with nonconservative products, and using path-conservative numerical scheme. Numerical results are presented in order to show the potential of the model.

Similarity solution is investigated for the synchronous grouting of shield tunnel under the vertical non-axisymmetric displacement boundary condition in the paper. The synchronous grouting process of shield tunnel was simplified as the cylindrical expansion problem, which was based on the mechanism between the slurry and stratum of the synchronous grouting. The stress harmonic function on the horizontal and vertical ground surfaces is improved. Based on the virtual image technique, stress function solutions and Boussinesq's solution, elastic solution under the vertical non-axisymmetric displacement boundary condition on the vertical surface was proposed for synchronous grouting problems of shield tunnel. In addition, the maximum grouting pressure was also obtained to control the vertical displacement of horizontal ground surface. The validity of the proposed approach was proved by the numerical method. It can be known from the parameter analysis that larger vertical displacement of the horizontal ground surface was induced by smaller tunnel depth, smaller tunnel excavation radius, shorter limb distance, larger expansion pressure and smaller elastic modulus of soils.

We propose and analyze a constrained level-set method for semi-automatic image segmentation. Our level-set model with constraints on the level-set function enables us to specify which parts of the image lie inside respectively outside the segmented objects. Such a-priori information can be expressed in terms of upper and lower constraints prescribed for the level-set function. Constraints have the same conceptual meaning as initial seeds of the popular graph-cuts based methods for image segmentation. A numerical approximation scheme is based on the complementary-finite volumes method combined with the Projected successive over-relaxation method adopted for solving constrained linear complementarity problems. The advantage of the constrained level-set method is demonstrated on several artificial images as well as on cardiac MRI data.

This paper presents an efficient method to calculate the displacement and stress fields in an isotropic elastic half-space having a hemispherical pit and being subject to gravity. The method is semi-analytical and takes advantage of the axisymmetry of the problem. The Boussinesq potentials are used to obtain an analytical solution in series form, which satisfies the equilibrium equations of elastostatics, traction-free boundary conditions on the infinite plane surface and decaying conditions at infinity. The boundary conditions on the free surface of the pit are then imposed numerically, by minimising a quadratic functional of surface elastic energy. The minimisation yields a symmetric and positive definite linear system of equations for the coefficients of the series, whose particular block structure allows its solution in an efficient and robust way. The convergence of the series is verified and the obtained semi-analytical solution is then evaluated, providing numerical results. The method is validated by comparing the semi-analytical solution with the numerical results obtained using a commercial finite element software.

We propose a finite-difference ghost-point approach for the numerical solution of Cauchy-Navier equations in linear elasticity problems on arbitrary unbounded domains. The technique is based on a smooth coordinate transformation, which maps an unbounded domain into a unit square. Arbitrary geometries are defined by suitable level-set functions. The equations are discretized by classical nine-point stencil on interior points, while boundary conditions and high order reconstructions are used to define the field variables at ghost-points, which are grid nodes external to the domain with a neighbor inside the domain. The linear system arising from such discretization is solved by a multigrid strategy. The approach is then applied to solve elasticity problems in volcanology for computing the displacement caused by pressure sources. The method is suitable to treat problems in which the geometry of the source often changes (explore the effects of different scenarios, or solve inverse problems in which the geometry itself is part of the unknown), since it does not require complex re-meshing when the geometry is modified. Several numerical tests are successfully performed, which asses the effectiveness of the present approach.

We propose two variants of tailored finite point (TFP) methods for discretizing two dimensional singular perturbed eigenvalue (SPE) problems. A continuation method and an iterative method are exploited for solving discretized systems of equations to obtain the eigen-pairs of the SPE. We study the analytical solutions of two special cases of the SPE, and provide an asymptotic analysis for the solutions. The theoretical results are verified in the numerical experiments. The numerical results demonstrate that the proposed schemes effectively resolve the delta function like of the eigenfunctions on relatively coarse grid.

Numerical error caused by “ghost forces” in a quasicontinuum method is studied in the context of dynamic problems. The error in the discrete W1,∞ norm is analyzed for the time scale (ε) and the time scale (1) with ε being the lattice spacing.

We introduce a new multigrid method to study the lattice statics model arising from nanoindentation. A constrained Cauchy-Born elasticity model is used as the coarse-grid operator. This method accelerates the relaxation process and considerably reduces the computational cost. In particular, it saves quite a bit when dislocations nucleate and move, as demonstrated by the simulation results.

The shapes of vesicles formed by lipid bilayers with phase separation are governed by a bending energy with phase dependent material parameters together with a line energy associated with the phase interfaces. We present a numerical method to approximate solutions to the Euler-Lagrange equations featuring triangulated surfaces, isoparametric quadratic surface finite elements and the phase field approach for the phase separation. Furthermore, the method involves an iterative solution scheme that is based on a relaxation dynamics coupling a geometric evolution equation for the membrane surface with a surface Allen-Cahn equation. Remeshing and grid adaptivity are discussed, and in various simulations the influence of several physical parameters is investigated.

In this paper, the static analysis of functionally graded (FG) circular plates resting on linear elastic foundation with various edge conditions is carried out by using a semi-analytical approach. The governing differential equations are derived based on the three dimensional theory of elasticity and assuming that the mechanical properties of the material vary exponentially along the thickness direction and Poisson’s ratio remains constant. The solution is obtained by employing the state space method (SSM) to express exactly the plate behavior along the graded direction and the one dimensional differential quadrature method (DQM) to approximate the radial variations of the parameters. The effects of different parameters (e.g., material property gradient index, elastic foundation coefficients, the surfaces conditions (hard or soft surface of the plate on foundation), plate geometric parameters and edges condition) on the deformation and stress distributions of the FG circular plates are investigated.

An axisymmetric formulation for modeling three-dimensional deformation of structures of revolution is presented. The axisymmetric deformation model is described using the cylindrical coordinate system. Large displacement effects and material nonlinearities and anisotropy are accommodated by the formulation. Mathematical derivation of the formulation is given, and an example is presented to demonstrate the capabilities and efficiency of the technique compared to the full three-dimensional model.

We propose a multigrid method to solve the molecular mechanics model (molecular dynamics at zero temperature). The Cauchy-Born elasticity model is employed as the coarse grid operator and the elastically deformed state as the initial guess of the molecular mechanics model. The efficiency of the algorithm is demonstrated by three examples with homogeneous deformation, namely, one dimensional chain under tensile deformation and aluminum under tension and shear deformations. The method exhibits linear-scaling computational complexity, and is insensitive to parameters arising from iterative solvers. In addition, we study two examples with inhomogeneous deformation: vacancy and nanoindentation of aluminum. The results are still satisfactory while the linear-scaling property is lost for the latter example.