An overview of the extended/generalized finite element method (GEFM/XFEM) with emphasis on methodological issues is presented. This method enables the accurate approximation of solutions that involve jumps, kinks, singularities, and other locally non-smooth features within elements. This is achieved by enriching the polynomial approximation space of the classical finite element method. The GEFM/XFEM has shown its potential in a variety of applications that involve non-smooth solutions near interfaces: Among them are the simulation of cracks, shear bands, dislocations, solidification, and multi-field problems. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The extended/generalized finite element method: An overview of the method and its applications

Domain integration by Gauss quadrature in the Galerkin mesh-free methods adds considerable complexity to solution procedures. Direct nodal integration, on the other hand, leads to a numerical instability due to under integration and vanishing derivatives of shape functions at the nodes. A strain smoothing stabilization for nodal integration is proposed to eliminate spatial instability in nodal integration. For convergence, an integration constraint (IC) is introduced as a necessary condition for a linear exactness in the mesh-free Galerkin approximation. The gradient matrix of strain smoothing is shown to satisfy IC using a divergence theorem. No numerical control parameter is involved in the proposed strain smoothing stabilization. The numerical results show that the accuracy and convergent rates in the mesh-free method with a direct nodal integration are improved considerably by the proposed stabilized conforming nodal integration method. It is also demonstrated that the Gauss integration method fails to meet IC in mesh-free discretization. For this reason the proposed method provides even better accuracy than Gauss integration for Galerkin mesh-free method as presented in several numerical examples. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A stabilized conforming nodal integration for Galerkin mesh-free methods

Modeling of the evolution of distributed damage such as microcracking, void formation, and softening frictional slip necessitates strain-softening constitutive models. The nonlocal continuum concept has emerged as an effective means for regularizing the boundary value problems with strain softening, capturing the size effects and avoiding spurious localization that gives rise to pathological mesh sensitivity in numerical computations. A great variety of nonlocal models have appeared during the last two decades. This paper reviews the progress in the nonlocal models of integral type, and discusses their physical justifications, advantages, and numerical applications.

Nonlocal integral formulations of plasticity and damage: Survey of progress

https://orbilu.uni.lu/bitstream/10993/13726/1/phu-meshless.pdf

Review: Meshless methods: A review and computer implementation aspects

A review of techniques, advances and outstanding issues in numerical modelling for rock mechanics and rock engineering

http://gfem.cee.illinois.edu/papers/cmame_published.pdf

An h-p adaptive method using clouds

A new methodology to build discrete models of boundary-value problems is presented. The h-pcloud method is applicable to arbitrary domains and employs only a scattered set of nodes to build approximate solutions to BVPs. This new method uses radial basis functions of varying size of supports and with polynomialreproducing properties of arbitrary order. The approximating properties of the h-p cloud functions are investigated in this article and a several theorems concerning these properties are presented. Moving least squares interpolants are used to build a partition of unity on the domain of interest. These functions are then used to construct, at a very low cost, trial and test functions for Galerkin approximations. The method exhibits a very high rate of convergence and has a greater -exibility than traditional h-p finite element methods. Several numerical experiments in I-D and 2-D are also presented. @ 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. In most large-scale numerical simulations of physical phenomena, a large percentage of the overall computational effort is expended on technical details connected with meshing. These details include, in particular, grid generation, mesh adaptation to domain geometry, element or cell connectivity, grid motion and separation to model fracture, fragmentation, free surfaces, etc. Moreover, in most computer-aided design work, the generation of an appropriate mesh constitutes, by far, the costliest portion of the computer-aided analysis of products and processes. These are among the reasons that interest in so-called meshless methods has grown rapidly in recent years. Most meshless methods require a scattered set of nodal points in the domain of interest. In these methods, there may be no fixed connectivities between the nodes, unlike the finite element or finite difference methods. This feature has significant implications in modeling some physical phenomena that are characterized by a continuous change in the geometry of the domain under analysis. The analysis of problems such as crack propagation, penetration, and large deformations, can, in principle, be greatly simplified by the use of meshless methods. A growing crack, for example, can be modeled by simply extending the free surfaces that correspond to the crack [ 11. The analysis of large deformation problems by, e.g., finite element methods, may require the continuous remeshing of the domain to avoid the breakdown of the calculation due to

/pdf/h-p-clouds-an-h-p-meshless-method-55own9epaq.pdf

C. Armando Duarte

Papers

An h-p adaptive method using clouds

H‐p clouds—an h‐p meshless method