A complete formulation of an indirect boundary element method for poroelastic rocks

Rocks are naturally filled with cracks and pores that are saturated with one or more fluid phases. Many problems in rock mechanics, petroleum engineering, geophysics, etc. deal with cracks and discontinuities in rock formations. These problems should consider effects of a porous medium. Displacement discontinuity method (DDM) as an indirect boundary element method is particularly ideal for problems involving fractures and discontinuities. However, the DDM in its original form is limited to elastic problems. The paper uses a fundamental solution of a point displacement discontinuity in poroelastic medium to obtain the solution for a poroelastic DDM. Then it introduces a numerical formulation and implementation for the poroelastic DDM in a code named CEP-DDM (Constant Element Poroelastic DDM). The accuracy and validity of the proposed solution and the newly developed code are verified by two analytical solutions, another numerical solution, and some field measurements. These results showed good agreement between CEP-DDM and other methods’ results. The verifications prove the accuracy and applicability of the proposed numerical model in a wide range of real-world problems.     

弹性静力学问题的边界积分形式的数值流形法

传统的数值流形法(NMM)一般均采用区域积分形式。结合边界单元法(BEM),提出了一种边界积分形式的数值流形法。该方法既能发挥NMM的可以灵活选取局部基的优势,又具有BEM降低问题求解维数的特点。针对二维的弹性静力学问题,对3个具有解析解的不同基准算例进行了数值应用,验证了所提方法的有效性和效率。计算结果表明,提高局部基的阶次可有效提高方法的计算精度。     

A note on indirect boundary element methods for the diffusion equation

This paper corrects an impression, created by a recent contribution to the International Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics, that the mathematical equivalence of the direct and indirect boundary element methods for the diffusion equation implies that their respective computational needs with regard to the body integral terms are equal. It is shown that in a stepwise implementation of the numerical procedure for solving a finite body problem, indirect methods requirean integration over an infinite region and not merely over the body as is the case for the direct version.     

A boundary element method for identifying orthotropic material parameters

A new approach is proposed for identifying elastic constants for orthotropic material bodies by using the boundary element method. The material parameters which must be determined are two Young's moduli, a shear modulus and two Poisson's ratios. The method is applied to geotechnical engineering problems.     

A direct boundary element method for plane strain poroelasticity

This paper presents a direct boundary element method (BEM), formulated in the Laplace transform space, for plane strain poroelasticity. The paper expands on work by Cheng and Liggett by recasting the theoretical foundation of BEM within the framework of Rice and Cleary's formulation of the Biot theory of poroelasticity. Furthermore, the numerical algorithm is generalized to deal with both interior and exterior domain problems, and a method for indirectly calculating the Cauchy principal value of the singular integrals is presented. Formulae for the stress and flux inside the domain are also derived. Finally, the algorithm is validated by comparing the numerical results with the analytical solution of a borehole subject to a far-field deviatoric stress (exterior domain) and with the solution of Mandel's problem (interior domain). These two examples provide a critical test of the algorithm.     

An indirect boundary integral equation method for poroelasticity

This paper presents an indirect boundary integral equation method for analysis of quasi-static, time-harmonic and transient boundary value problems related to infinite and semi-infinite poroelastic domains. The present analysis is based on Biot's theory for poroelastodynamics with fluid viscous dissipation. The solution to a given boundary value problem is reduced to the determination of intensities of forces and fluid sources applied on an auxiliary surface defined interior to the surface on which the boundary conditions are specified. A coupled set of integral equations is established to determine the intensities of forces and fluid sources applied on the auxiliary surface. The integral equations are solved numerically in the Laplace domain for quasi-static and transient problems, and in the frequency domain for time-harmonic excitations. The kernel functions of the integral equation correspond to appropriate Green's functions for a poroelastic full space or half-space. The convergence and numerical stability of the present scheme are established by considering a number of bench mark problems. The versatility of the present method is demonstrated by studying the quasi-static response of a rigid spheroidal anchor, and time-harmonic and transient response of a rigid semi-circular tunnel.     

Boundary element methods for two-dimensional problems of transient ground water flow

Direct and indirect formulations of the boundary element methods are described for two-dimensional problems of transient ground water low. A numerical algorithm for obtaining solutions to complete any two-dimensional problem is outlined. The algorithm has been applied successfully to several problems which demonstrate its usefulness in practice.     

Dynamic stress analysis of a class of geomechanics problems by the boundary element method

This paper presents the application of an advanced BEM for periodic and transient dynamic stress analyses of a class of geomechanics problems. For transient dynamic analysis, the problem is first solved in the Laplace transform space, which happens to be similar to the periodic dynamic analysis, and then the time domain solution is obtained by numerical inversion of transform domain solutions. The numerical implementation of the BEM used to present the results in this paper is complete and most general available to date. It is capable of treating very large, multi-layered problems by substructuring and satisfying the equilibrium and compatibilities at the interfaces. With the help of this substructuring, capability problems related to layered media and soil–structure interaction have been analysed. A number of examples are presented and through comparisons with available analytical and numerical results, the applicability and usefulness of the present analysis to real geomechanical problems are established.     

模拟三维裂纹问题的多尺度扩展有限元法

扩展有限元法模拟裂纹时独立于网格,因此该方法是目前求解裂纹问题最有效的数值方法。为了在计算代价不大的情况,实现大型结构分析中考虑小裂纹或提高裂纹附近精度,在裂纹附近一般采用小尺度单元,其他区域采用大尺度单元。提出了分析三维裂纹问题的多尺度扩展有限元法,在需要的地方采用小尺度单元。基于点插值构造了六面体任意节点单元。所有尺度单元都采用8节点六面体单元,这样六面体任意节点单元可方便有效地连接不同尺度单元。采用互作用积分法计算三维应力强度因子。边裂纹和中心圆裂纹算例分析结果表明,该方法是正确和有效的。     

基于边界元法的边坡矢量和稳定分析

矢量和法物理力学意义明确,计算简单,且能根据边坡当前的应力分布状态合理地评价其整体稳定性状态。其中边坡的应力状态通常是采用有限元法来求解。由于边界元法具有研究问题降阶、离散化带来的误差值仅产生在边界以及计算量小等优点,在工程中得到了广泛应用;对于平面问题,以源点作为原点,以所积分单元的切向和法向为坐标轴建立局部坐标系,对于线性单元可以得到所有积分的解析解。因此,可以得到计算区域内部任意点的场变量的解析解,这就保证了位于边界附近区域场变量的精度。利用边界元法得到二维边坡体内连续的应力分布状态,使用矢量和法对该边坡进行稳定性分析,并且与基于有限元的矢量和法、极限平衡法进行对比分析。边坡圆弧滑面和折线滑面的计算结果表明,基于边界元法得到的矢量和安全系数和基于有限元的矢量和法、极限平衡法基本一致;边界元法对应的矢量和安全系数对边界单元尺寸不敏感。     

Finite element method for time-dependent problems of frozen soils

Ground freezing technology is favoured in civil engineering, mainly in tunnelling. The time-dependent material characteristics in the form of creep control the bearing capacity of any frozen earth support system. The finite element method in connection with an initial strain algorithm is able to include these effects. The information about stress redistribution and deformation rate is important for an economic design. Case histories of different tunnel linings in frozen soil and two other examples of realized projects show the usefulness of such a procedure.     

颗粒离散单元法动力人工边界设置方法

采用颗粒离散单元法进行动力计算时,人工截断边界上需设置吸收边界条件,以防止波的反射。鉴于颗粒离散单元数值计算模型的人工边界上颗粒单元半径大小不一、边界面凸凹不平,在连续介质的黏性、黏弹性、自由场边界条件方程基础之上,推导出适用于离散介质的等效方程。在离散介质的黏性边界条件等效方程中引入微调系数,提出比值迭代法以快速确定其最优值,以实现对波的最佳吸收。采用二维颗粒离散单元计算软件PFC2D,分别建立黏性、黏弹性、自由场边界条件相关数值分析模型,探讨颗粒分布模式对黏性边界上颗粒单元半径、速度分布及比值迭代过程的影响;采用外源波动算例及经典Lamb问题算例验证黏弹性边界设置方法的正确性;通过隧洞算例检验提出的自由场边界条件设置方法的正确性。     

模拟三维裂纹问题的扩展有限元法

扩展有限元法是一种在常规有限元框架内求解强和弱不连续问题的新型数值方法,其计算网格与不连续面相互独立,因此模拟移动不连续面时无需对网格进行重新剖分。给出了模拟三维裂纹问题的扩展有限元法。在常规有限元位移模式中,基于单位分解的思想加进一个阶跃函数和二维渐近裂尖位移场,反映裂纹处位移的不连续性。用两个水平集函数表示裂纹。采用线性互补法求解裂纹面非线性接触条件,不需要迭代,提高了计算效率。采用两点位移外推法计算裂纹前缘应力强度因子。给出了3个三维弹性静力问题算例,其结果显示了所提方法能获得高精度的应力强度因子,并能有效地处理裂纹面间的接触问题,同时表明扩展有限元结合线性互补法求解不连续问题具有较好的前景。     

无限域横观各向同性岩体介质中折线裂纹边界元方法

岩体材料的各向异性导致其中的光滑裂纹在扩展后会变为折线裂纹。对于折线裂纹,其折线处裂纹面外法线方向不惟一,不能用连续单元离散。为此,在光滑裂纹问题方法的基础上,引入4种新的不连续单元来离散折线处裂纹面,建立了适用于折线裂纹问题的对偶边界元方法,该方法基于横观各向同性基本解。算例验证表明,该方法具有较好的精度。最后用该方法分析了横观各向同性岩体中的折线裂纹,得到了该类裂纹的应力强度因子。当裂纹面上作用法向均布力,横观各向同性岩体介质中的矩形光滑裂纹发生弯折时,折线两侧的裂纹面在张开时存在抑制效应,从而导致折线裂纹裂尖应力强度因子小于原光滑裂纹。同时还发现,随裂纹面的逐渐弯折,其裂纹面对各向同性面的倾角发生变化,因此,其裂尖断裂特性还受到岩体各向异性的影响。     

用空气单元法求解渗流场的逸出边界问题

依据空气单元模拟排水孔的思路,在渗流场任意可能逸出边界外布置一层渗透性较强的单元,与其他实体单元一起进行渗流计算,可以实现该边界的自动求解。与现行方法相比,不仅省去了逸出边界迭代计算的麻烦,而且避免了由于逸出点定位不准确而可能引起的渗流计算不合理或收敛困难等缺陷。算例分析表明,空气单元法的计算精度与空气单元的相对渗透系数R有关,与厚度L无关。当选取了合适的R值后,可以较好地逼近现行方法。对于因引入空气单元而造成的强弱透水介质界面处数值拟真性差的现象,还提出了加入接触面薄层单元的改进方法。方法改进后,计算精度可进一步提高。最后,以小湾水电站22#坝段渗流场计算为例,说明该法的实用性和可行性。     

Some applications of the boundary element method in geomechanics

This paper presents the complete formulation for the application of the Boundary Element Method to solve non-tension material problems. The formulation is based on including an extra term due to an initial stress field into the boundary integral statement. This is then used to iterate the solution until a state of non-tension is achieved. The resulting iteration process is very simple to apply and basically consists only of a single matrix–vector product. The applications show that accurate resultscan be obtained for boundary discretizations involving a small number of unknowns. Whenever possible, results are compared with analytical solutions or finite elements.     

A new development of the scaled boundary finite element method for wave motion in layered half-space

The scaled boundary finite element method (SBFEM) developed by Wolf and Song has shown certain parallels to the finite element method (FEM) and boundary element method (BEM). Because of its semi-analytical nature, SBFEM is particularly suitable for the analysis of wave propagation in unbounded domains. This paper makes a certain modification of the standard SBFEM. A new idea of scaling surface instead of a scaling center is introduced to formulate the governing SBFE equations for the analysis of wave propagation in multilayered half-space, which leads to simplifying the modeling and saving considerably the computational effort. In addition, by employing the proposed approach, some problems encountered in engineering practice, which are difficult to deal with by the conventional SBFEM, for example, 3D foundation impedance on half-space with irregular geographical features, can be effectively solved. The proposed approach also helps to simplify the solution of shell structures. Numerical examples are provided to validate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed approach.     

Coupled meshfree and fractal finite element method for unbounded problems

This paper presents a coupling technique for integrating the element-free Galerkin method (EFGM) with the fractal finite element method (FFEM) to analyze unbounded problems in the half-space. FFEM is adopted to model the far field of an unbounded domain and EFGM is used in the near field. In the transition region interface elements are employed. The shape functions of interface elements which comprise both the element-free Galerkin and the finite element shape functions, satisfy the consistency condition thus ensuring convergence of the proposed coupled EFGM–FFEM. The proposed method combines the best features of EFGM and FFEM, in the sense that no structured mesh or special enriched basis functions are necessary. The numerical results show that the proposed method performs extremely well converging rapidly to the analytical solution. Also a parametric study is carried out to examine the effects of the integration order, the similarity ratio, the weight function, the scaling parameter and the number of transformation terms, on the quality of the numerical solutions.     

基于OpenMP的二维有限元-离散元并行分析方法

Munjiza提出的有限元-离散元耦合分析方法（FEDM）是分析岩石破裂过程的一种十分有效的方法。然而,为了克服网格依赖性,需要将岩体剖分成非常细小的三角形单元,且三角形单元之间不共用节点,导致问题的变量数目巨大,计算非常耗时。为了提高计算效率,基于OpenMP(open multi-processing)多核并行技术实现了有限元-离散元法的并行化,克服了并行化过程中存在的数据竞争,实现了并行程序的负载平衡。提出了一套将串行程序并行化的策略,即首先确定串行程序的热点区域,然后尽可能地将热点区域并行化,尽量使用私有变量来规避数据竞争;若各线程间仍存在数据竞争,可采用动态链表数据结构,先将数据存于动态链表中,最后在并行区域外,将存于各个动态链表中的数据进行合并,这样可以规避数据竞争,同时避免了使用临界区或锁,从而提高了程序的并行化效果。开发了并行版本FDEM程序,将所提出的方法用于大规模工程问题的求解,最后通过陡崖塌落的算例说明该方法的有效性。     

Elastoplastic analysis of jointed rocks using a coupled finite element and boundary element method

This paper presents a coupled, elastoplastic, finite element and boundary element method for the two-dimensional, non-linear analysis of anisotropic jointed rock. The non-linear and anisotropic behaviour of a jointed rock mass is simulated by representing the mass as an equivalent anisotropic, elastoplastic continuum, so that the influence of the jointing system is ‘smeared’ across the continuum, i.e. the individual joints are not modelled as discrete entities. Numerical examples have been solved to verify the capability, accuracy and efficiency of the present technique. The proposed technique has also been applied to the analysis of tunnel excavation problems in plane strain. The effects of anisotropy and non-linearity of the jointed rock mass during excavation have been investigated in some detail.