Effective block diagonal preconditioners for Biot's consolidation equations in piled‐raft foundations

The finite element (FE) simulation of large‐scale soil–structure interaction problems (e.g. piled‐raft, tunnelling, and excavation) typically involves structural and geomaterials with significant differences in stiffness and permeability. The symmetric quasi‐minimal residual solver coupled with recently developed generalized Jacobi, modified symmetric successive over‐relaxation (MSSOR), or standard incomplete LU factorization (ILU) preconditioners can be ineffective for this class of problems. Inexact block diagonal preconditioners that are inexpensive approximations of the theoretical form are systematically evaluated for mitigating the coupled adverse effects because of such heterogeneous material properties (stiffness and permeability) and because of the percentage of the structural component in the system in piled‐raft foundations. Such mitigation led the proposed preconditioners to offer a significant saving in runtime (up to more than 10 times faster) in comparison with generalized Jacobi, modified symmetric successive over‐relaxation, and ILU preconditioners in simulating piled‐raft foundations. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Robust partitioned block preconditioners for large‐scale geotechnical applications with soil–structure interactions

Soil–structure interaction problems are commonly encountered in geotechnical practice and remarkably characterized with significant material stiffness contrast. When solving the soil–structure interaction problems, the employed Krylov subspace iterative method may converge slowly or even fail, indicating that the adopted preconditioning method may not suit for such problems. The inexact block diagonal preconditioners proposed recently have been shown effective for the soil–structure interaction problems; however, they haven't been exploited to full capabilities. By using the same partition strategy according to the structure elements and soil elements, the partitioned block symmetric successive over‐relaxation preconditioners or partitioned block constraint preconditioners are proposed. Based on two pile‐group foundation problems and a tunnel problem, the proposed preconditioners are evaluated and compared with the available preconditioners for the consolidation analysis and the drained analysis, respectively. In spite of one additional solve associated with the structure block and multiplications with off‐diagonal blocks in the preconditioning step, numerical results reveal that the proposed preconditioners obviously possess better performance than the recently developed inexact block preconditioners. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Parallel solution to ill‐conditioned FE geomechanical problems

Parallel computers are potentially very attractive for the implementation of large size geomechanical models. One of the main difficulties of parallelization, however, relies on the efficient solution of the frequently ill‐conditioned algebraic system arising from the linearization of the discretized equilibrium equations. While very efficient preconditioners have been developed for sequential computers, not much work has been devoted to parallel solution algorithms in geomechanics. The present study investigates the state‐of‐the‐art performance of the factorized sparse approximate inverse (FSAI) as a preconditioner for the iterative solution of ill‐conditioned geomechanical problems. Pre‐and post‐filtration strategies are experimented with to increase the FSAI efficiency. Numerical results show that FSAI exhibits a promising potential for parallel geomechanical models mainly because of its almost ideal scalability. With the present formulation, however, at least 4 or 8 processors are required in the selected test cases to outperform one of the most efficient sequential algorithms available for FE geomechanics, i.e. the multilevel incomplete factorization (MIF). Further research is needed to improve the FSAI efficiency with a more effective selection of the preconditioner non‐zero pattern. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The role of preconditioning in the solution to FE coupled consolidation equations by Krylov subspace methods

The repeated solution in time of the linear system arising from the finite element integration of coupled consolidation equations is a major computational effort. This system can be written in either a symmetric or an unsymmetric form, thus calling for the implementation of different preconditioners and Krylov subspace solvers. The present paper aims at investigating when either a symmetric or an unsymmetric approach should be better used. The results from a number of representative numerical experiments indicate that a major role in selecting either form is played by the preconditioner rather than by the Krylov subspace method itself. Two other important issues addressed are the size of the time integration step and the possible lumping of the flow capacity matrix. It appears that ad hoc block constrained preconditioners provide the most robust algorithm independently of the time step size, lumping, and symmetry. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Parallel inexact constraint preconditioning for ill-conditioned consolidation problems

Constraint preconditioners have proved very efficient for the solution of ill-conditioned finite element (FE) coupled consolidation problems in a sequential computing environment. Their implementation on parallel computers, however, is not straightforward because of their inherent sequentiality. The present paper describes a novel parallel inexact constraint preconditioner (ParICP) for the efficient solution of linear algebraic systems arising from the FE discretization of the coupled poro-elasticity equations. The ParICP implementation is based on the use of the block factorized sparse approximate inverse incomplete Cholesky preconditioner, which is a very recent and effective development for the parallel preconditioning of symmetric positive definite matrices. The ParICP performance is experimented with in real 3D coupled consolidation problems, proving a scalable and efficient implementation of the constraint preconditioning for high-performance computing. ParICP appears to be a very robust algorithm for solving ill-conditioned large-size coupled models in a parallel computing environment.     

GPU-accelerated iterative solutions for finite element analysis of soil–structure interaction problems

Soil–structure interaction problems are commonly encountered in engineering practice, and the resulting linear systems of equations are difficult to solve due to the significant material stiffness contrast. In this study, a novel partitioned block preconditioner in conjunction with the Krylov subspace iterative method symmetric quasiminimal residual is proposed to solve such linear equations. The performance of these investigated preconditioners is evaluated and compared on both the CPU architecture and the hybrid CPU–graphics processing units (GPU) computing environment. On the hybrid CPU–GPU computing platform, the capability of GPU in parallel implementation and high-intensity floating point operations is exploited to accelerate the iterative solutions, and particular attention is paid to the matrix–vector multiplications involved in the iterative process. Based on a pile-group foundation example and a tunneling example, numerical results show that the partitioned block preconditioners investigated are very efficient for the soil–structure interaction problems. However, their comparative performances may apparently depend on the computer architecture. When the CPU computer architecture is used, the novel partitioned block symmetric successive over-relaxation preconditioner appears to be the most efficient, but when the hybrid CPU–GPU computer architecture is adopted, it is shown that the inexact block diagonal preconditioners embedded with simple diagonal approximation to the soil block outperform the others.     

一种高性能迭代预处理方法及其在岩土工程中的应用

岩土工程建设的发展极大地促进了三维数值模拟的应用。大规模三维有限元计算需要求解一系列大型线性方程组,这些线性方程组的求解直接影响着整个有限元计算的效率。复杂岩土工程问题通常涉及多相和多体耦合相互作用,各相之间或不同固体材料之间性质差别显著,可能导致Krylov子空间迭代法收敛缓慢,甚至求解失败。为了提高Krylov子空间迭代法的求解效率和可靠性,提出一种新的高效预处理技术,通过算例验证了所提出的分区块迭代预处理方法的有效性。     

Numerical performance of projection methods in finite element consolidation models

Projection, or conjugate gradient like, methods are becoming increasingly popular for the efficient solution of large sparse sets of unsymmetric indefinite equations arising from the numerical integration of (initial) boundary value problems. One such problem is soil consolidation coupling a flow and a structural model, typically solved by finite elements (FE) in space and a marching scheme in time (e.g. the Crank–Nicolson scheme). The attraction of a projection method stems from a number of factors, including the ease of implementation, the requirement of limited core memory and the low computational cost if a cheap and effective matrix preconditioner is available. In the present paper, biconjugate gradient stabilized (Bi‐ CGSTAB) is used to solve FE consolidation equations in 2‐D and 3‐D settings with variable time integration steps. Three different nodal orderings are selected along with the preconditioner ILUT based on incomplete triangular factorization and variable fill‐in. The overall cost of the solver is made up of the preconditioning cost plus the cost to converge which is in turn related to the number of iterations and the elementary operations required by each iteration. The results show that nodal ordering affects the perfor mance of Bi‐CGSTAB. For normally conditioned consolidation problems Bi‐CGSTAB with the best ILUT preconditioner may converge in a number of iterations up to two order of magnitude smaller than the size of the FE model and proves an accurate, cost‐effective and robust alternative to direct methods. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Three dimensional analysis of large strain thaw consolidation in permafrost

Thaw consolidation of ice-rich permafrost is a typical problem in cold regions engineering. This paper proposes a three dimensional analysis of large strain thaw consolidation for post-thawed zone of permafrost, which is defined by a moving thawing boundary problem with phase changes. The theory is implemented in a numerical code and the numerical results are compared with thaw consolidation tests. For problems with low water contents, the small and large strain methods provide virtually the same results. For problems with high water contents, however, the large strain theory shows a much better performance.     

Use of coupled finite element analysis in unsaturated soil problems

This paper presents a variation of Biot's consolidation theory for analysing problems involving unsaturated soils, and implemented using the finite element method. The numerical method is applied to a few geotechnical problems as examples and the results obtained are compared to some published data. The illustrative examples show how the numerical method can be used to analyse seepage and consolidation problems associated with unsaturated soils and demonstrate the flexibility and applicability of the presented method. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A parallel block preconditioner for large-scale poroelasticity with highly heterogeneous material parameters

Large-scale simulations of coupled flow in deformable porous media require iterative methods for solving the systems of linear algebraic equations. Construction of efficient iterative methods is particularly challenging in problems with large jumps in material properties, which is often the case in realistic geological applications, such as basin evolution at regional scales. The success of iterative methods for such problems depends strongly on finding effective preconditioners with good parallel scaling properties, which is the topic of the present paper. We present a parallel preconditioner for Biot’s equations of coupled elasticity and fluid flow in porous media. The preconditioner is based on an approximation of the exact inverse of the two-by-two block system arising from a finite element discretisation. The approximation relies on a highly scalable approximation of the global Schur complement of the coefficient matrix, combined with generally available state-of-the-art multilevel preconditioners for the individual blocks. This preconditioner is shown to be robust on problems with highly heterogeneous material parameters. We investigate the weak and strong parallel scaling of this preconditioner on up to 512 processors and demonstrate its ability on a realistic basin-scale problem in poroelasticity with over eight million tetrahedral elements.     

CS2: A PIECEWISE-LINEAR MODEL FOR LARGE STRAIN CONSOLIDATION

This paper presents a piecewise-linear finite-difference model for one-dimensional large strain consolidation called CS2. CS2 is developed using a fixed Eulerian co-ordinate system and constitutive relationships which are defined by discrete data points. The model is dimensionless such that solutions are independent of the initial height of the compressible layer and the absolute magnitude of the hydraulic conductivity of the soil. The capability of CS2 is illustrated using four example problems involving small strain, large strain, self-weight, and non-linear constitutive relationships. In each case, the performance of the model is comparable to other available analytical and numerical solutions. Using CS2, correction factors are developed for the conventional Terzaghi theory which account for the effect of vertical strain on computed values by elapsed time and maximum excess pore pressure during consolidation. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Parametric variational principle for elastic–plastic consolidation analysis of saturated porous media

Finite element procedures for numerical solution of various engineering problems are often based on variational formulations. In this paper, a parametric variational principle applicable to elastic-plastic coupled field problems in consolidation analysis of saturated porous media is presented. This principle can be used to solve problems where materials are inconsistent with Drucker's postulate of stability, such as in non-associated plasticity flow or softening problems. The finite element formulation was given, and it can be solved by either the conventional method or a parametric quadratic programming method.     

考虑温度耦合效应的竖井地基固结有限元分析

针对塑料排水板(PVD)安装热源能提升PVD性能、加速竖井地基固结这一工程现象,基于热-水-应力 (T-H-M) 三场全耦合的有限元方法来模拟利用热源进行地基处理新技术(PVTD)。首先,以微分形式与等效弱形式分别给出T-H-M耦合控制方程,并推导出其有限元方程组。然后在多场耦合有限元软件中建立饱和土的T-H-M全耦合模型,并通过与已有解析解比较,验证了模型正确性。最后,对一个经典有涂抹区的竖井地基算例,分不耦合温度(UT)、耦合温度但不考虑其对饱和土物性影响(CT)、耦合温度考虑温度对饱和土渗透性影响(CTP) 3种情况进行固结计算分析。研究结果表明,相对于无热源竖井地基,CT情况下由于热源产生的附加孔隙水压力,固结速度略有下降;CTP情况下,由于热源有效改善涂抹区的渗透性能,竖井地基固结速率明显加快。上述研究结论从理论上较好地阐明了PVTD的作用机制。     

Scaling improves stability of preconditioned CG‐like solvers for FE consolidation equations

Preconditioned projection (or conjugate gradient like) methods are increasingly used for the accurate and efficient solution to finite element (FE) coupled consolidation equations. Theory indicates that preliminary row/column scaling does not affect the eigenspectrum of the iteration matrix controlling convergence as long as the preconditioner relies on the incomplete factorization of the FE coefficient matrix. However, computational experience with mid‐large size problems shows that the above inexpensive operation can significantly accelerate the solver convergence, and to a minor extent also improve the final accuracy, as a result of a better solver stability to the accumulation and propagation of floating point round‐off errors. This is demonstrated with the aid of the least square logarithm (LSL) scaling algorithm on FE consolidation problems of increasing size up to more than 100 000. It is shown that a major source of numerical instability rests with the sub‐matrix which couples the structural to the fluid part of the underlying mathematical model. It is concluded that for mid‐large size, possibly difficult, FE consolidation problems left/right LSL scaling is to be always recommended when the incomplete factorization is used as a preconditioning technique. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modelling of the effect of scale on the compressibility parameters of fine-grained soils

ABSTRACT

The effect of sample scale represents a challenge when obtaining engineering parameters in the laboratory compared to those obtained in the field. This study aimed at contributing to existing knowledge numerically using the finite element software PLAXIS 2D. The investigations were analysed in terms of height scale (HS) and diameter scale (DS) through a series of laboratory tests. Its effect on compressibility parameters such as coefficient of consolidation (c_v) was noted experimentally and showed that the sample scale greatly influences soil parameters most particularly at DS. The soil behaviour was found to be dependent on both DS and HS with a correlation factor of 0.650 and 0.062, respectively. The experimental data were validated in PLAXIS and a new proposed model was developed in PLAXIS 2D under the DS. The new proposed model developed was found to show no significant difference with the laboratory data.     

Numerical modelling of dynamic consolidation on granular soils

The application of Pastor–Zienkiewicz constitutive model for sands to dynamic consolidation problems is presented in this paper. This model is implemented in a coupled code formulated in terms of displacements for both solid and fluid phases (u?w formulation), which is firstly compared with u?p_w formulation for some simple examples. Its range of validity, previously established for elastic problems and harmonic loading, is explored. Once the suitability of the u?w formulation has been ascertained for this kind of dynamic problems in soils, one‐ and two‐dimensional (plane strain) dynamic consolidation numerical examples are provided, aiming to give some light into the physics of this ground improvement technique. A ‘wave of dryness’, observed at the soil surface during the impact in field cases, is numerically reproduced and justified. Some hints on the influence of the loading zone size are also given. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

砂墙地基二维固结自由应变解

将含竖向排水体地基的三维固结变形问题等效为平面应变问题进行数值分析时,砂墙地基二维固结解析解答是合理确定其等效固结计算参数的重要依据。为辨析现有砂墙地基等应变固结近似解答的适用性,针对微单元土体严格的二维固结微分方程,考虑对地基固结有重要影响的井阻作用,以及涵盖完全透水和不完全透水的更一般边界面排水条件,推求得到了其自由应变解答。并与现有解答进行对比分析,同时,分析了泊松比效应以及水平和竖向排水对地基固结的影响。结果表明,现有砂墙地基的等应变固结解答虽然近似,但已有足够精确;砂墙地基以水平向固结为主,竖向固结几乎可以忽略不计;地基固结速率随着泊松比的增大而增大,在将竖向排水体等效为砂墙时,应考虑其作用影响。     

Efficient block preconditioners for the coupled equations of pressure and deformation in highly discontinuous media

Large‐scale simulations of flow in deformable porous media require efficient iterative methods for solving the involved systems of linear algebraic equations. Construction of efficient iterative methods is particularly challenging in problems with large jumps in material properties, which is often the case in geological applications, such as basin evolution at regional scales. The success of iterative methods for this type of problems depends strongly on finding effective preconditioners. This paper investigates how the block‐structured matrix system arising from single‐phase flow in elastic porous media should be preconditioned, in particular for highly discontinuous permeability and significant jumps in elastic properties. The most promising preconditioner combines algebraic multigrid with a Schur complement‐based exact block decomposition. The paper compares numerous block preconditioners with the aim of providing guidelines on how to formulate efficient preconditioners. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

袋装砂井爆夯处理软土地基的数值模拟方法及现场试验验证

袋装砂井爆夯法处理软土地基是利用炸药在设置有排水通道的软土中爆炸产生冲击和振动而使土体加固的方法。针对该法进行理论研究,提出了一种将袋装砂井爆夯处理软土地基的三维问题转化为二维平面应变问题的数值模拟方法：袋装砂井转化为等价砂墙;利用等效冲量原理,炮孔爆炸压力则转化为等效压力墙。数值模拟中考虑了土体骨架变形与孔隙水非达西渗流的耦合。对数值模拟的现场试验验证分析表明,沉降数值分析的结果与铁路宁启线软基处理现场测试结果具有很好的可比性。所提出的数值分析方法可模拟袋装砂井爆夯处理软土地基的超静孔隙水压产生和消散以及土体沉降变形的动态过程。