An artificial boundary approach for unbounded transient seepage problems

A new artificial boundary approach for transient seepage problems in unbounded domain is presented. The artificial boundary condition at the truncated boundary is derived from the analytical solutions for transient seepage problems in one dimension, including solutions, respectively, for flow in one‐dimensional infinite space and for radial flow in an infinite layer, and then it is tentatively applied for some two dimensional problems in addition to the one‐dimensional problems mentioned above. The boundary conditions derived relate the time‐dependent boundary flux with the time derivative of the hydraulic head at the truncated boundary, which makes the implementation much easier compared with the infinite element method. The accuracy and efficiency of the artificial boundary are validated by several numerical examples, which shows that the proposed boundary can give very good results for one‐dimensional transient seepage problems, as expected, whereas reasonable results can be also obtained for two‐dimensional problems, such as two‐dimensional axisymmetric flow and flow in an infinite plane. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A local artificial boundary for transient seepage problems with unsteady boundary conditions in unbounded domains

Numerical analysis of transient seepage in unbounded domains with unsteady boundary conditions requires a more sophisticated artificial boundary approach to deal with the infinite character of the domain. To that end, a local artificial boundary is established by simplifying a global artificial boundary. The global artificial boundary conditions (ABCs) at the truncated boundary are derived from analytical solutions for one‐dimensional axisymmetric diffusion problems. By applying Laplace transforms and introducing some specially defined auxiliary variables, the global ABCs are simplified to local ABCs to significantly enhance the computational efficiency. The proposed local ABCs are implemented in a finite element computer program so that the solutions to various seepage problems can be calculated. The proposed approach is first verified by the computation of a one‐dimensional radial flow problem and then tentatively applied to more general two‐dimensional cylindrical problems and planar problems. The solutions obtained using the local ABCs are compared with those obtained using a large element mesh and using a previously proposed local boundary. This comparison demonstrates the satisfactory performance and obvious superiority of the newly established boundary to the other local boundary. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

6节点无界元及其应用

推导了6节点无界元的相关公式,并采用VC++和Matlab混合编程的手段,设计了基于Windows操作平台的面向对象的有限元与无界元耦合分析软件。应用该软件,成功的对某大型水电站地下硐室群的稳定性进行了有限元分析和有限元与无界元耦合分析,验证了公式的正确性。分析表明,在无限域和半无限域的岩土工程问题中引入无界元可以达到消除“边界效应”和提高计算效率的目的。     

ABAQUS动力无限元人工边界研究

针对动力场天然无限地基的数值模拟与地震波输入问题进行了一些有意义的研究,评述了现有动力计算常用无限元的优缺点,详细阐述了ABAQUS无限元理论体系框架,并加以改进,提出一种考虑外域地震动影响的ABAQUS动力无限元人工边界。采用等效边界力的叠加原理,对入射波和散射波分开处理,视入射波和散射波在边界上互不影响,将输入地震动转化为作用于有限元无限元交界面上的等效应力的方法来解决外源波的入射问题。算例验证结果表明：内源振动和固定边界会出现失真和扰动现象,同时该计算结果与黏弹性边界的计算结果对比可知,该方法对外行散射波的过滤作用优于黏弹性边界。因此,改进的ABAQUS动力无限元人工边界理论方法有效且具有一定的稳定性。     

Finite element analysis for a finite conductivity fracture in an infinite poroelastic medium

In the technology of oil recovery, oil production rate can be increased by generation of a vertical conductive fracture adjacent to the well-bore. In this paper the seepage flow and isothermal deformation in both the oil formation and the fracture are studied by modelling the formation as a two-dimensional infinite poroelastic medium and the conductive fracture as a one-dimensional poroelastic material, saturated by a one-phase compressible fluid. The plane strain condition is employed. Solutions for a growing conductive fracture and a stationary conductive fracture in the infinite medium are obtained by means of the finite element method based on a variational principle for the formation which can impose the governing equations of the fracture. Infinite elements are used outside the finite element domain. Numerical results indicate that the injection rate, the applied pressure and the crack mouth opening displacement at the well-bore oscillate during the propagation of the conductive fracture. The production rate of a well with the conductive fracture is compared with that of a well without the conductive fracture. Finally, a new definition of the conductivity coefficient for the conductive fracture is presented. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

裂隙岩体不稳定温度场的复合单元算法研究

基于复合单元法,结合三维热传导-对流方程和“充填模型”,提出了裂隙岩体不稳定温度场的复合单元模型。该模型前处理简便快捷,计算网格生成时无需考虑裂隙的存在,网格剖分不受限制,随后利用复合单元前处理程序,依据裂隙的位置和方位将其自动离散在单元内。对常规热传导-对流方程进行自伴随性调整,应用变分原理,推导出裂隙岩体不稳定温度场的复合单元算法,该算法可分别计算出岩块子单元和裂隙的温度值,且可真实反映裂隙中水流与相邻岩块间的热能量交换规律。将复合单元数值模型计算的不稳定温度场结果与相应的实测数据进行对比分析可知,数值计算结果与实测数据基本一致,验证了裂隙岩体不稳定温度场复合单元算法的可靠性与有效性。算例分析表明,裂隙中水流与相邻岩块间有明显的热传导和热对流作用。     

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.     

Development of an infinite element boundary to model gravity for subsurface civil engineering applications

The accurate modelling of gravity is of crucial importance for a variety of issues including, but not restricted to, the identification of buried objects. Gravity is an unbounded problem, which causes challenges when applying numerical models, i..e.., it results in computational difficulties when specifying the relevant boundary conditions. In order to address this, previous research has tended to generate artificial boundary conditions, e.g., truncating the simulated domain and adding many unrealistic zero-density layers, which introduces more unknown parameters and unnecessarily excessive computational time. In order to overcome such inaccuracies, this paper proposes an innovative development of the finite element modelling technique, which represents a step change in the field of gravity forward modelling. A comprehensive formulation of an infinite element to reproduce the far-field boundary effect using only one layer of infinite elements is presented. The developed model considerably reduces the computational time while obtaining high degrees of accuracy. The model is validated against the exact solution of the problem, and its results show an excellent performance. The proposed method can significantly improve the postprocessing and interpretation stages of data analysis relevant to micro-gravity sensors. The new method is applied to subsurface civil engineering although its applicability is manifold.     

Non-linear analysis of geomechanical problems using coupled finite and infinite elements

In modeling of many geomechanics problems such as underground openings, soil-foundation structure interaction problems, and in wave propagation problems through semi-infinite soil medium the soil is represented as a region of either infinite or semi-infinite extent. Numerical modeling of such problems using conventional finite elements involves a truncation of the far field in which the infinite boundary is terminated at a finite distance. In these problems, appropriate boundary conditions are introduced to approximate the solution of the infinite or semi-infinite boundaries as closely as possible. However, the task of positioning the finite boundary in conventional finite element discretization and the definition of the boundary and its conditions is very delicate and depends on the modeller's skill and intuition. Moreover, such a choice is influenced by the size of the domain to be discretized. Consequently, the dimensions of the global matrices and the time required for solution of the problem will increase considerably and also selection of the arbitrary location of truncated boundary may lead to erroneous result. In order to over come these problems, mapped infinite elements have been developed by earlier researchers (Simoni and Schrefier, 1987). In the present work the applicability of infinite element technique is examined for different geomechanics problems. A computer program INFEMEP is developed based on the conventional finite element and mapped infinite element technique. It is then validated using selected problems such as strip footing and circular footing. CPU time taken to obtain solutions using finite element approach and infinite element approach was estimated and presented to show the capability of coupled modeling in improving the computational efficiency. Mesh configurations of different sizes were used to explore the enhancement of both computational economy and solution accuracy achieved by incorporation of infinite elements to solve elastic and elasto-plastic problems in semi-infinite/finite domain as applied to geotechnical engineering. © Rapid Science Ltd. 1998     

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。     

带相变瞬态温度场问题的扩展有限元解析

带相变瞬态传热问题是寒区工程多场耦合问题求解的关键.在剖析常规有限元法在求解带相变瞬态温度场问题的不足的基础上,结合冻土冻融温度变化的特点,提出采用扩展有限元法求解冻土工程带相变瞬态传热问题的新方法,以四边形单元为例推导了冻土工程温度场的求解格式,详细剖析了瞬态传热过程中移动界面水平集函数的构造、单元刚度矩阵的形成及高斯积分的求解.据此编写了相应的扩展有限元程序,通过经典Stefan问题全面验证了程序的正确性与合理性.     

Adaptive analysis of infinite beams dynamics problems using the periodic configuration update method in the time domain

This paper proposes a new approach for the assessment of the dynamic response of continuously supported infinite beams under high‐speed moving loads. A change in the representation of equations of motion in the dynamics of discrete structures is proposed to obtain an improved accuracy of the numerical integration in the time domain. The proposed numerical method called the “periodic configuration update” or “PCU method” is applied to solve the problem of a vertical moving harmonic load on an infinite classical Euler‐Bernoulli beam resting on a continuous viscoelastic foundation. This study shows the superiority of the proposed method in comparison with other methods presented in the literature that suffer from the material time derivative, i.e., convective terms, that arises from the Galilean transformation. To confront this numerical problem, the PCU method retains the principle of the spatial follow of loads while zeroing the relative velocity with the traversed beam via a step‐by‐step adaptive integration of the equation of structural dynamics. The dynamic load is modeled with high theoretical velocities that can reach the critical velocity of the studied beam with different angular frequencies belonging to moderate frequency range. A parametric study is carried out to analyze the influence of key parameters on the convergence. The obtained results show a high efficiency of the PCU method for solving these types of problems relative to the dynamics of high speed trains/tracks.     

A high‐frequency open boundary for transient seepage analyses of semi‐infinite layers by extending the scaled boundary finite element method

A high‐frequency open boundary has been developed for the transient seepage analyses of semi‐infinite layers with a constant depth. The scaled boundary finite element equation of pore water pressure is formulated first in the frequency domain. With the eigenvalue problem, the equation can be decoupled into modal equations whose modal dynamic permeability equation can be determined. The continued fraction technique is adopted to formulate the continued fraction solution in the frequency domain. All constants in the solution are determined recursively at the high‐frequency limit. By introducing auxiliary variables and the continued fraction solution to the relationship between the prescribed seepage flow and the pore water pressure in the frequency domain, the open boundary condition is obtained. After transformed to the time domain, the open boundary condition is expressed as a system of fractional differential equations. No convolution integral is required. The accuracy of the analysis results increases with the increasing orders of continued fraction. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical and analytical observations on long and infinite slopes

Interest in the mechanics of landslides has led to renewed evaluation of the infinite slope equations, and the need for a more general framework for estimating the factor of safety of long and infinite slopes involving non‐homogeneous soil profiles. The paper describes finite element methods that demonstrate the potential for predicting failure in long slope profiles where the critical mechanism is not necessarily at the base of the soil layer. The influence of slope angle is also examined in long slopes, leading to some counter‐intuitive conclusions about the impact of slope steepness on the factor of safety. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

用无穷边界元分析半无限域问题

在边界积分方程离散的基础上,根据远场位移的特性,用衰减函数描述远场位移,阐述了自适应高斯积分算法,并结合前人成果—用解析法求出在远场上的强奇异积分,编制了适合于半无限域线弹性问题的计算机程序,并进行了事例验证,验证表明,该法比传统边界元具有更高的精度。     

Numerical modelling of transient contaminant migration problems in infinite porous fractured media using finite/infinite element technique. Part I: Theory

The leakage effect in porous fissured media has been considered in a general sense by introducing a new expression of the leakage term in this paper. The double porosity concept is employed and the related expressions are formulated using the upwind finite element approach. Considering the infinite extension of the problem domain, a mapped transient infinite element has been presented to simulate the far field of the infinite medium. Since the mass transfer function of the present mapped transient infinite element is dependent on both space and time variables, the mechanism of transient contaminant migration problems in infinite porous fractured media can be rigorously simulated because the property matrices of the element are evaluated at any time of interest. By comparing the current numerical results with the analytical ones, the accuracy, correctness and effectiveness of the present method have been established. Three different time discretization schemes were examined and it was found that either the central difference or the backward difference approximation is suitable for the upwind finite element simulation of transient contaminant migration problems.     

Semi‐analytical far field model for three‐dimensional finite‐element analysis

A challenging computational problem arises when a discrete structure (e.g. foundation) interacts with an unbounded medium (e.g. deep soil deposit), particularly if general loading conditions and non‐linear material behaviour is assumed. In this paper, a novel method for dealing with such a problem is formulated by combining conventional three‐dimensional finite‐elements with the recently developed scaled boundary finite‐element method. The scaled boundary finite‐element method is a semi‐analytical technique based on finite‐elements that obtains a symmetric stiffness matrix with respect to degrees of freedom on a discretized boundary. The method is particularly well suited to modelling unbounded domains as analytical solutions are found in a radial co‐ordinate direction, but, unlike the boundary‐element method, no complex fundamental solution is required. A technique for coupling the stiffness matrix of bounded three‐dimensional finite‐element domain with the stiffness matrix of the unbounded scaled boundary finite‐element domain, which uses a Fourier series to model the variation of displacement in the circumferential direction of the cylindrical co‐ordinate system, is described. The accuracy and computational efficiency of the new formulation is demonstrated through the linear elastic analysis of rigid circular and square footings. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical modelling of transient contaminant migration problems in infinite porous fractured media using finite/infinite element technique. Part II: Parametric study

Using the numerical model presented in the first paper of this research,¹ a parametric study has been carried out in this paper to investigate the effect of several important parameters on the transient contaminant transport in infinite porous fractured media. From the related numerical results, it has been demonstrated that: (1) transmissive coefficient between the porous block and the fissured network has a significant influence on the value of the concentration but has little effect on the speed of contaminant transport; (2) porosities in the porous block and fissured network have a significant influence on the maximum value of the concentration; (3) average linear velocity of flow has a significant influence on both the concentration distribution and speed of contaminant transport; (4) dispersion coefficient of the medium affects not only the shape of the concentration versus time curve but also the peak value of the concentration.     

非稳定渗流条件下非饱和土边坡稳定分析

大量的滑坡灾害表明, 水的作用是影响边坡失稳的重要原因,合理地评价边坡的稳定性,需考虑边坡基质吸力场的变化与水的渗流作用。通过稳定与非稳定渗流条件下的非饱和土堤算例,探讨了Bishop和Fredlund非饱和土抗剪强度公式应用于强度折减有限元法的差异,并与极限平衡法的结果进行对比。结果表明,Bishop和Fredlund非饱和土抗剪强度公式的本质是相同的,而从非稳定渗流条件下的分析结果来看,强度折减有限元法分析的安全系数与极限平衡法分析临水坡和背水坡安全系数的最小值相当接近,强度折减有限元法更适合分析边坡的整体稳定性。此外,采用Bishop强度公式可以通过用饱和度代替基质吸力参数来体现基质吸力对强度的影响,在分析饱和度较高的非饱和土边坡稳定性时较为方便。     

地下水位升高时黏性土无限边坡的水平位移

在平面应变条件下,采用摩尔-库仑强度准则和相关联流动法则,对地下水位升高过程中平移模式下的黏性土无限边坡进行了弹塑性分析,探讨了坡体变形的变化规律,分析了边坡安全系数和坡面水平位移的关系。数值分析表明,土坡的初始应力状态和抗剪强度指标对地下水位升高过程中滑坡前塑性区的厚度、坡体内塑性应变和水平位移的发展都有很大影响。