Virtual Element Methods In Engineering Sciences

This book provides a comprehensive treatment of the virtual element method (VEM) for engineering applications, focusing on its application in solid mechanics. Starting with a continuum mechanics background, the book establishes the necessary foundation for understanding the subsequent chapters. It then delves into the VEM's Ansatz functions and projection techniques, both for solids and the Poisson equation, which are fundamental to the method. The book explores the virtual element formulation for elasticity problems, offering insights into its advantages and capabilities. Moving beyond elasticity, the VEM is extended to problems in dynamics, enabling the analysis of dynamic systems with accuracy and efficiency. The book also covers the virtual element formulation for finite plasticity, providing a framework for simulating the behavior of materials undergoing plastic deformation. Furthermore, the VEM is applied to thermo-mechanical problems, where it allows for the investigation of coupled thermal and mechanical effects. The book dedicates a significant portion to the virtual elements for fracture processes, presenting techniques to model and analyze fractures in engineering structures. It also addresses contact problems, showcasing the VEM's effectiveness in dealing with contact phenomena. The virtual element method's versatility is further demonstrated through its application in homogenization, offering a means to understand the effective behavior of composite materials and heterogeneous structures. Finally, the book concludes with the virtual elements for beams and plates, exploring their application in these specific structural elements. Throughout the book, the authors emphasize the advantages of the virtual element method over traditional finite element discretization schemes, highlighting its accuracy, flexibility, and computational efficiency in various engineering contexts.

The purpose of this book is to present the current state of the art of the Virtual Element Method (VEM) by collecting contributions from many of the most active researchers in this field and covering a broad range of topics: from the mathematical foundation to real life computational applications. The book is naturally divided into three parts. The first part of the book presents recent advances in theoretical and computational aspects of VEMs, discussing the generality of the meshes suitable to the VEM, the implementation of the VEM for linear and nonlinear PDEs, and the construction of discrete hessian complexes. The second part of the volume discusses Virtual Element discretization of paradigmatic linear and non-linear partial differential problems from computational mechanics, fluid dynamics, and wave propagation phenomena. Finally, the third part contains challenging applications such as the modeling of materials with fractures, magneto-hydrodynamics phenomena and contact solid mechanics. The book is intended for graduate students and researchers in mathematics and engineering fields, interested in learning novel numerical techniques for the solution of partial differential equations. It may as well serve as useful reference material for numerical analysts practitioners of the field.

This book gathers selected contributions on emerging research work presented at the International Conference eXtended Discretization MethodS (X-DMS), held in Ferrara in September 2015. It highlights the most relevant advances made at the international level in the context of expanding classical discretization methods, like finite elements, to the numerical analysis of a variety of physical problems. The improvements are intended to achieve higher computational efficiency and to account for special features of the solution directly in the approximation space and/or in the discretization procedure. The methods described include, among others, partition of unity methods (meshfree, XFEM, GFEM), virtual element methods, fictitious domain methods, and special techniques for static and evolving interfaces. The uniting feature of all contributions is the direct link between computational methodologies and their application to different engineering areas.

This self-tutorial offers a concise yet thorough grounding in the mathematics necessary for successfully applying FEMs to practical problems in science and engineering. Its unique teaching method explains the analysis using exercises and detailed solutions.

The Finite Element Method in Engineering is the only book to provide a broad overview of the underlying principles of finite element analysis and where it fits into the larger context of other mathematically based engineering analytical tools. This is an updated and improved version of a finite element text long noted for its practical applications approach, its readability, and ease of use. Students will find in this textbook a thorough grounding of the mathematical principles underlying the popular, analytical methods for setting up a finite element solution based on mathematical equations. The book provides a host of real-world applications of finite element analysis, from structural design to problems in fluid mechanics and thermodynamics. It has added new sections on the assemblage of element equations, as well as an important new comparison between finite element analysis and other analytical methods showing advantages and disadvantages of each. This book will appeal to students in mechanical, structural, electrical, environmental and biomedical engineering. The only book to provide a broadoverview of the underlying principles of finite element analysis and where it fits into the larger context of other mathematically based engineering analytical tools. New sections added on the assemblage of element equations, and an important new comparison between finite element analysis and other analytical methods, showing the advantages and disadvantages of each.

This self-tutorial offers a concise yet thorough grounding in the mathematics necessary for successfully applying FEMs to practical problems in science and engineering. The unique approach first summarizes and outlines the finite-element mathematics in general and then, in the second and major part, formulates problem examples that clearly demonstrate the techniques of functional analysis via numerous and diverse exercises. The solutions of the problems are given directly afterwards. Using this approach, the author motivates and encourages the reader to actively acquire the knowledge of finite-element methods instead of passively absorbing the material, as in most standard textbooks. The enlarged English-language edition, based on the original French, also contains a chapter on the approximation steps derived from the description of nature with differential equations and then applied to the specific model to be used. Furthermore, an introduction to tensor calculus using distribution theory offers further insight for readers with different mathematical backgrounds.

A rigorous and thorough mathematical introduction to the subject; A clear and concise treatment of modern fast solution techniques such as multigrid and domain decomposition algorithms; Second edition contains two new chapters, as well as many new exercises; Previous edition sold over 3000 copies worldwide