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This paper focuses on the accurate and efficient numerical implementation of acoustic-structure coupling formulations using the edge-based smoothed finite element method for the flexible shell and the gradient-weighted finite element method for the acoustic fluid field, namely, the ES/GW-FEM. The shell is discretized using the simplest linear triangular elements and the edge-based smoothing domain is then constructed. By introducing an edge local coordinate system, the edge-based smoothing operation is performed on the smoothing domain. As for the acoustic fluid domain, the tetrahedron elements are adopted. A compacted support domain is then constructed and the gradient weighted operation is performed on the support domain. To model the exterior acoustic domain, an artificial boundary is introduced and the Dirichlet-to-Neumann (DtN) boundary condition is imposed. Based on the appropriate compatibility and equilibrium conditions on the interface boundaries, the coupled ES/GW-FEM formulation is finally obtained. Both the interior acoustic-structure coupled problems and exterior acoustic-structure coupled problems are available as the DtN boundary is considered. Numerical examples demonstrate that the coupled ES/GW-FEM achieves much higher accuracy and works more reliably compared with the coupled FEM/FEM in solving practical engineering problems.

The fiber-reinforced composites display the random fiber orientations and uncertain material parameters because of the manufacturing error and scattering feature. For this problem, the uncertain prediction and optimization based on the transformed perturbation stochastic method, the edged-based smoothing technique and the optimization theory is presented. In this method, the non-Gaussian probability density functions and the cumulative distribution functions of multi-variables for stochastic static responses of fiber-reinforced composite structure are explicitly exhibited as the prediction result compared with the Monte Carlo solution. Unlike the direct MCs, it only needs an iteration as the FEM and has the potential in the complex construction. In order to improve the efficiency and capability to resist the mesh distortion compared with the traditional stochastic FEM, the edged-based smoothing technique is introduced into the present framework. Furthermore, the stable performance feature of the fiber-reinforced composite in the uncertain working condition is presented. Consequently, objectives of the structural stability and insensitivity criteria based on the second-order perturbation expansion are proposed, and overall uncertain conditions coupled by uncertain fiber orientation, external load, material parameters and geometry sizes are analyzed and optimized within this framework, respectively. To verify the effectiveness and accuracy of the uncertain analysis and optimization in this study, three examples including the composite plates, the composite shell and the composite top cover of automobile are provided.

This paper presents a concurrent topology optimization approach for simultaneous design of composite structures and their periodic material microstructures with three or more phases. The effective properties of multi-phase materials are obtained via homogenization technique which serves as a bridge of the finite element models of the macrostructure and the material microstructure. The base materials of periodic microstructures used in each phase of the macrostructure are divided into several groups and sensitivity analysis are carried out on them one by one. Meanwhile, the sensitivity number at the macrostructure is derived which is coupled with the designed material properties. Then, the composite configurations of material microstructures and macrostructures are inversely optimized concurrently based on the bi-directional evolutionary structural optimization (BESO) algorithm. Several 2D and 3D numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of proposed design approach.

Summary It is well-known that the traditional finite element method (FEM) fails to provide accurate results to the Helmholtz equation with the increase of wave number due to the “pollution error” caused by numerical dispersion. In order to overcome this deficiency, a gradient-weighted finite element method (GW-FEM) that combines Shepard interpolation and linear shape functions is proposed in this work. Three-node triangular and four-node tetrahedral elements that can be generated automatically are first used to discretize the problem domain in 2D and 3D spaces, respectively. For each independent element, a compacted support domain is then formed based on the element itself and its adjacent elements sharing common edges (or faces). With the aid of Shepard interpolation, a weighted acoustic gradient field is then formulated, which will be further used to construct the discretized system equations through the generalized Galerkin weakform. Numerical examples demonstrate that the present algorithm can significantly reduces the dispersion error in computational acoustics.

The accuracy of numerical results using standard finite element method (FEM) in acoustic problems will deteriorate with increasing frequency due to the "dispersion error". Such dispersion error depends on the balance between the "stiffness" and "mass" of discretization equation systems. This paper reports an improved finite element method (FEM) for solving acoustic problems by re-distributing the mass in the mass matrix to "tune" the balance, aiming to minimize the dispersion errors. This is done by shifting the integration point locations when computing the entries of the mass matrix, while ensuring the mass conservation. The new method is verified through the detailed numerical error analysis, and a strategy is also proposed for the best mass redistribution in terms of minimizing dispersion error. The relative dispersion error of present mass-redistributed finite element method (MR-FEM) is found to be much smaller than the FEM solution, in both theoretical prediction and numerical examination. The present MR-FEM works well by using the linear triangular elements that can be generated automatically, which enables automation in computation and saving computational cost in mesh generation. Numerical examples demonstrate the advantages of MR-FEM, in comparison with the standard FEM using the same triangular meshes and quadrilateral meshes.

The widely-used numerical modeling approaches such as the finite element method (FEM) and statistical energy analysis (SEA) often have limited applicability to the transmission loss prediction in mid-frequency range. In this paper, a novel hybrid edge-based smoothed FEM coupled with statistical energy analysis (ES-FE-SEA) method is proposed to further improve the accuracy of “mid-frequency” transmission loss predictions. The application of ES-FEM will “soften” the well-known ‘‘overly-stiff’’ behavior in the standard FEM solution and reduce the inherent numerical dispersion error. While the SEA approach deals with the physical uncertainty in the relatively higher frequency range. The plate of interest is appropriately described by an ES-FEM model, due to its relative robustness to perturbations. Its adjacent reverberation cavities are modeled by employing the SEA approach, because of their high model density. The coupling and interaction between SEA subsystems and the FE subsystem is governed by the “reciprocity relationship” theorem. A standard numerical example for benchmarking is examined and excellent agreement was achieved between the prediction and reference results. The proposed ES-FE-SEA is also verified by various numerical examples. The method is finally applied to the modeling a complicated engineering problem–acoustic fields on both sides of the front windshield in a passenger car.

The traditional stochastic finite element method based on the finite element method fails to give the fine solution in precise determination of reliable problems when the computer power consumption is limited. To cure this fatal defect, the generalized n th order stochastic perturbation technique based on a stable node-based smoothed finite element method (GS_SNS-FEM) is presented. The framework intends to essentially improve the accuracy, lower the mesh limitation and occupy much less computational consumption for stochastic problems, especially when its second order realization is ineffective for large variations of input random fields. Besides, the n th orders expansion makes it possible to get the prefect accuracy for expected values and variances. Numerical examples including the static and dynamic problems are completed and compared with the solution of Monte Carlo simulation. It is found that the SNS-FEM applied in the stochastic problem can improve the accuracy of static and dynamic results, largely decrease the time cost, and lower the requirement of mesh.

This paper proposed a nodal integration model for elasto-static, free vibration, forced vibration and geometric nonlinear analyses of axisymmetric thin shells using two-node truncated conical elements. The formulation is based on the Kirchhoff–Love theory, in which only the two translational displacements are treated as the independent field variables. A gradient smoothing technique (GST) is employed to relax the continuity requirement for trial function, so that linear shape functions can be used to interpolate both the tangent and normal displacement fields to the meridian. Based on each node, the integration domains are further formed, where the membrane strains and curvature changes are computed using a strain smoothing operation incorporated with a tensor transformation manipulation. The smoothed Galerkin weakform is then used to establish the discretized system equations. In order to accurately track the deformation path in geometric nonlinear analysis, the Newton–Raphson iteration in conjunction with the arc-length technique are employed here to solve the equilibrium equation. Numerical examples demonstrate that the present method can achieves higher accuracy and lower computing cost compared with the conventional finite element model.

A stable nodal integration method with strain gradient (SNIM-SG) for curing the temporal instability of node-based smoothed finite element method (NS-FEM) is proposed for dynamic problems using linear triangular and tetrahedron element. In each smoothing domain, except for considering the smoothed strain into the calculation of potential energy functional as NS-FEM, a term related to strain gradient is taken into account as a stabilization term. The proposed SNIM-SG can achieve appropriate system stiffness in strain energy between FEM and NS-FEM solutions and obtains quite favorable results in elastic and dynamic analysis. The accuracy and stability of SNIM-SG solution are studied through detailed analyzes of benchmark cases and practical engineering problems. In elastic-static analysis, it is found that SNIM-SG can provide higher accuracy in displacement field than the reference approaches do. In free vibration analysis, the spurious non-zero energy modes can be eliminated effectively owing to the fact that SNIM-SG solution strengths the original relatively soft NS-FEM, and SNIM-SG is confirmed to obtain fairly accurate natural frequency values in various examples. All in all, SNIM-SG cures the flaws of NS-FEM and enhances the dominant of nodal integration. Thus, the efficacy of the presented formulation in solving solid mechanics problems is well represented and clarified.

In this paper, a coupled smoothed finite element method (S-FEM) is developed to deal with the structural-acoustic problems consisting of a shell configuration interacting with the fluid medium. Three-node triangular elements and four-node tetrahedral elements that can be generated automatically for any complicated geometries are adopted to discretize the problem domain. A gradient smoothing technique (GST) is introduced to perform the strain smoothing operation. The discretized system equations are obtained using the smoothed Galerkin weakform, and the numerical integration is applied over the further formed edge-based and face-based smoothing domains, respectively. To extend the edge-based smoothing operation from plate structure to shell structure, an edge coordinate system is defined local on the edges of the triangular element. Numerical examples of a cylinder cavity attached to a flexible shell and an automobile passenger compartment have been conducted to illustrate the effectiveness and accuracy of the coupled S-FEM for structural-acoustic problems.

The alpha finite element method (α-FEM) developed recently has showed outstanding features in solving solid mechanics and acoustic problems. In the α-FEM, a parameter alpha has been introduced to make the best use of “over-stiffness” of the FEM model and “over-softness” of the NS-FEM model to achieve the ultimate performance. Because the parameter alpha varies with the problems and the mesh size, it is difficult to find a general approach to determine, which holds back the application of the α-FEM method. In this paper, acoustic simulation using α-FEM with a general approach for reducing dispersion error is proposed. We first carry out a theoretical analysis of dispersion error, leading to a very important relation between the dispersion error and the parameter alpha. Next, the parameter of alpha is then determined by minimizing the dispersion error. The determined parameter alpha enables a proper gradient smoothing operation in the α-FEM, and provides a perfect balance between the stiffness and mass in the discrete system matrix, which dramatically reduces the dispersion error. The properties of the present α-FEM have been confirmed numerically via examples of 1D, 2D and 3D acoustic problems with various boundary conditions.

Summary This paper proposed a rotation-free thin shell formulation with nodal integration for elastic–static, free vibration, and explicit dynamic analyses of structures using three-node triangular cells and linear interpolation functions. The formulation is based on the classic Kirchhoff plate theory, in which only three translational displacements are treated as the filed variables. Based on each node, the integration domains are further formed, where the generalized gradient smoothing technique and Green divergence theorem that can relax the continuity requirement for trial function are used to construct the curvature filed. With the aid of strain smoothing operation and tensor transformation rule, the smoothed strains in the integration domain can be finally expressed by constants. The principle of virtual work is then used to establish the discretized system equations. The translational boundary conditions are imposed same as the practice of standard finite element method, while the rotational boundary conditions are constrained in the process of constructing the smoothed curvature filed. To test the performance of the present formulation, several numerical examples, including both benchmark problems and practical engineering cases, are studied. The results demonstrate that the present method possesses better accuracy and higher efficiency for both static and dynamic problems. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This paper presents a curvature-constructed triangular element for static, free vibration and explicit dynamic analyses of shell structures by using a continuity re-relaxed technique. In the present method, the formulation is based on the classical thin shell theory, and only the translational displacements are treated as the filed variables that are assumed piecewisely linear. A set of three-node triangular background cells is adopted to discretize the problem domain. The curvature field in an element is constructed using the continuity re-relaxed technique, which can relax the continuity requirement of the trial function. The membrane strain filed is formulated same as the practice of standard FEM. Based on the principle of virtual work, the discertized system equations are finally formed. As the rotational displacements are not considered as the basic degrees of freedom, the essential boundary conditions of this part are imposed in the process of forming the curvature field. In order to validate the efficiency and accuracy of the present method, several numerical examples are studied. The results demonstrate that the present formulation can achieve very stable and accurate solutions with the less consuming of CPU time.

Summary Predicting the frequency response of a complex vibro-acoustic system becomes extremely difficult in the mid-frequency regime. In this work, a novel hybrid face-based smoothed finite element method/statistical energy analysis (FS-FEM/SEA) method is proposed, aiming to further improve the accuracy of ‘mid-frequency’ predictions. According to this approach, the whole vibro-acoustic system is divided into a combination of a plate subsystem with statistical behaviour and an acoustic cavity subsystem with deterministic behaviour. The plate subsystem is treated using the recently developed FS-FEM, and the cavity subsystem is dealt with using the SEA. These two different types of subsystems can be coupled and interacted through the so-called diffuse field reciprocity relation. The ensemble average response of the system is calculated, and the uncertainty is confined and treated in the SEA subsystems. The use of FS-FEM ‘softens’ the well-known ‘overly stiff’ behaviour in the standard FEM and reduces the inherent numerical dispersion error. The proposed FS-FEM/SEA approach is verified and its features are examined by various numerical examples. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A cell-based smoothed radial point interpolation method (CS-RPIM) is formulated for three-dimensional elasticity problems. In present method, the problem domain is firstly discretized by tetrahedron background cells, and each tetrahedron cell is then further divided into several smoothing cells. The displacement field function is approximated using RPIM shape functions which have Kronecker delta function property. Supporting node selection for shape function construction uses the efficient T2L-scheme associated with the background cells. The smoothed Galerkin weak form is employed to create discretized system equations, and then the gradient smoothing operation is adopted to construct smoothed strain fields in every smoothing cell. Numerical examples are used to examine the present method in terms of accuracy, convergence, and efficiency. Compared with the finite element method using linear interpolation and node-based smoothed finite element method, the CS-RPIM solutions can achieve better efficiency, higher accuracy, and greater stability in static and free vibration analysis in presented examples.

In this paper, a coupled numerical method of the edge-based smoothed finite element (ES-FEM) with the fast multipole BEM (FM-BEM) is proposed to analyze structural acoustic problems. The vibrating structure is modeled using the so-called ES-FEM-DSG3 method, where the 3-node linear triangle plate elements based on the Reissner-Mindlin plate theory with the discrete shear gap (DSG) technique for overcoming the shear locking are applied. The edge-based gradient smoothing operations are applied to “soften” the “overly-stiff” behavior in the standard FEM, which significantly reduces the inherent numerical dispersion error. The normal velocities on the surface of the structure are imposed as boundary conditions for the acoustic domain which is modeled using the FM-BEM for both the interior and exterior acoustic domains. Comparing with the conventional BEM, the matrix vector multiplication and the memory requirement in the FM-BEM are reduced dramatically. The coupled ES-FEM/ FM-BEM method takes the advantages of both ES-FEM and FM-BEM, which can avoid drawbacks of the “overly-stiff” behavior in FEM and computational inefficiency in the conventional BEM. Two numerical examples are presented to verify and demonstrate the effectiveness of the combined method: one academic problem for studying in detail the accuracy and efficiency of the present method, and one application to a practical vehicle noise simulation.

A new smoothed finite element method (S-FEM) is proposed using hybrid smoothing operations based on nodes and edges of the mesh for static and free vibration analyses of plates governed by the Reissner---Mindlin plate theory. In the present approach, both the node-based smoothed finite element method (NS-FEM) and edge-based smoothed finite element method (ES-FEM) are utilized in a careful designed manner to overcome the shear locking. The formulations use 3-node triangular elements for easy automatic mesh creation, and linear interpolation functions are used for simplicity and robustness. The bending strains field are smoothed by the means of gradient smoothing technique over smoothing domains constructed by element edges, while the shear strains filed is smoothed based on the combination of NS-FEM and ES-FEM with a proper weightage controlled by a coefficient. A simple formula is developed for automatic selection of the coefficient by considering mesh size and thickness of the plate. For easy reference, the present technique is termed as NS+ES-FEM. The numerical examples demonstrate that the proposed method passes the shear-locking test and improves accuracy of the solution.

The standard finite element method (FEM) is known for its “over-stiff” behavior, which leads to the pollution error in acoustic and acoustic-structural problems. In this paper, a generalized mass-redistributed smoothed FEM (MR-SFEM) is proposed to analyze the acoustic and acoustic-structure interaction problems. In the new MR-SFEM, the generalized mass matrix reconstitution technology is used for both the structural and acoustic discretized system based on the SFEM, which can provide a perfect balance of the discretized system matrix both in the structure and acoustic domain. The global equations of acoustic-structural interaction problems are established by coupling the MR-SFEM for the structure and for the acoustic domain. Some numerical examples of acoustic and acoustic-structure interaction problems have been used to assess the present formulation, and the results show that the present method has much better performance in terms of accuracy, convergence, and efficiency than those obtained using the standard FEM, edge-based FEM (ES-FEM), and face-based FEM (FS-FEM).

A face-based smoothed finite element method (FS-FEM) is formulated for transient thermal mechanical analyses of 3-D solids with nonlinearity. For this face-based smoothed finite element method, the problem domain is first discretized into a set of tetrahedral elements, and the face-based smoothing domains are further formed along the faces of the tetrahedral meshes. The smoothing operations are performed in these smoothing domains. Several numerical examples with different kinds of boundary conditions are investigated in this paper. Compared with the 4-node tetrahedral FEM, the FS-FEM can achieve much better accuracy and higher convergence when dealing with the thermal mechanical analyses of 3-D solids.

In this paper, an edge-based smoothed finite element method (ES-FEM) is further formulated to deal with the thermo-mechanical analyses of functionally graded cylindrical vessels. In the ES-FEM, the problem domain is first discretized into triangular elements, and the edge-based smoothing domains are further formed along the edges of the triangular meshes. In order to improve the accuracy, the stiffness matrices are calculated using the strain smoothing technique in these smoothing domains. The FGM cylindrical vessels are assumed to be made of ceramics and metals whose volume fractions vary continuously in the radius direction according to a power law. Different material model and thermal boundary conditions are studied. The present formulation is straight-forward and no penalty parameters or additional degrees of freedom are utilized. Numerical examples are given to demonstrate the effectivity of ES-FEM for thermo-mechanical analysis of functionally graded cylindrical vessels.

A stabilized node-based smoothed finite element method (sNS-FEM) is formulated for three-dimensional (3-D) elastic-static analysis and free vibration analysis. In this method, shape functions are generated using finite element method by adopting four-node tetrahedron element. The smoothed Galerkin weak form is employed to create discretized system equations, and the node-based smoothing domains are used to perform the smoothing operation and the numerical integration. The stabilization term for 3-D problems is worked out, and then propose a strain energy based empirical rule to confirm the stabilization parameter in the formula. The accuracy and stability of the sNS-FEM solution are studied through detailed analyses of benchmark cases and actual elastic problems. In elastic-static analysis, it is found that sNS-FEM can provide higher accuracy in displacement and reach smoother stress results than the reference approaches do. And in free vibration analysis, the spurious non-zero energy modes can be eliminated effectively owing to the fact that sNS-FEM solution strengths the original relatively soft node-based smoothed finite element method (NS-FEM), and the natural frequency values provided by sNS-FEM are confirmed to be far more accurate than results given by traditional methods. Thus, the feasibility, accuracy and stability of sNS-FEM applied on 3-D solid are well represented and clarified.

An edge-based smoothed finite element method (ES-FEM) is extended to deal with the transient thermo-elastic problems. For this edge-based smoothed finite element method, the problem domain is first discretized into a set of triangular elements, and the edge-based smoothing domains are further formed along the edges of the triangular meshes. In order to improve the accuracy, the ES-FEM utilizes the smoothed Galerkin weak form to obtain the discretized system equations in smoothing domains, in which the gradient field is obtained using a gradient smoothing operation. After applying these approaches, the numerical integration becomes a simple summation over each edge-based smoothing domain. The transient thermo-elastic problem is decoupled into two separate parts. At first, the temperature field is acquired by solving the transient heat transfer problem and it is then employed as an input for the mechanical problem to calculate the displacement and stress fields. Several numerical examples with different kinds of boundary conditions are investigated. It has been found that ES-FEM can achieve better accuracy and higher convergence in energy norm than the finite element method (FEM) when using the same triangular mesh.

This paper applies the boundary face method (BFM) to solve both steady-state and unsteady-state heat conduction problems in the dam construction. Instead of employing the isoparametric elements as in the boundary and finite element methods, the BFM uses directly geometric models from CAD packages to avoid geometric errors for any complex structures. Moreover, the variable approximations and the boundary integration are all performed in the parametric space of the boundary surfaces, which means that the elements and integral patches are defined in the parametric space. A numerical example of steady-state analysis presented in this paper is a concrete dam structure which consists of several blocks. The example of unsteady-state analysis, which concerns a single block with several holes in it, has also been presented to illustrate the validity and the efficiency of the proposed method.

This paper presents a thin plate formulation with nodal integration for bending analysis using three-node triangular cells and linear interpolation functions. The formulation was based on the classic thin plate theory, in which only deflection field was required and dealt with as the field variables. They were assumed to be piecewisely linear and expressed using a set of three-node triangular cells. Based on each node, the integration domain has been further derived, where the curvature in the domain was computed using a gradient smoothing technique (GST). As a result, the curvature in each integration domain is a constant whereby the deflection is compatible in the whole problem domain. The generalized smoothed Galerkin weak form is then used to create the discretized system equations where the system stiffness is obtained using simple summation operation. The essential rotational boundary conditions are imposed in the process of constructing the curvature field in conjunction with imposing the translational boundary conditions in the same way as undertaken in the standard FEM. A number of numerical examples were studied using the present formulation, including both static and free vibration analyses. The numerical results were compared with the reference ones together with those shown in the state-of-art literatures published. Very good accuracy has been achieved using the present method.

In this paper, bending and vibration analysis of laminated composite plates is carried out using a novel triangular composite plate element based on an edge-based smoothing technique. The present formulation is based on the first-order shear deformation theory, and the discrete shear gap (DSG) method is employed to mitigate the shear locking. The smoothed Galerkin weak form is adopted to obtain the discretized system equations, and edge-based smoothing domains are used for the numerical integration to improve the accuracy and the convergence rate of the method. The present formulation is coded and used to solve various example problems of bending and free vibration of laminated composite plates. It is found that the present method can provide excellent results with a wide range of thickness and is free of shear locking.

In this paper, a meshless natural neighbour Petrov–Galerkin method (NNPG) is presented for a plate described by the Mindlin theory. The discrete model of the domain Ω consists of a set of distinct nodes N, and a polygonal description of the boundary. In the NNPG, the trial functions on a local domain are constructed using natural neighbour interpolation and the three-node triangular FEM shape functions are taken as test functions. The natural neighbour interpolants are strictly linear between adjacent nodes on the boundary of the convex hull, which facilitate imposition of essential boundary conditions. The local weak forms of the equilibrium equations and the boundary conditions are satisfied in local polygonal sub-domains in the mean surface of the plate. These sub-domains are constructed with Delaunay tessellations and domain integrals are evaluated over included Delaunay triangles by using Gaussian quadrature scheme. Both elasto-static and dynamic problems are considered. The numerical results show the presented method is easy to implement and very accurate for these problems.

A cell-based smoothed radial point interpolation method (CS-RPIM) based on the generalized gradient smoothing operation is proposed for static and free vibration analysis of solids. In present method, the problem domain is first discretized using triangular background cells, and each cell is further divided into several smoothing cells. The displacement field function is approximated using RPIM shape functions which have Kronecker delta function property. Supporting node selection for shape function construction uses the efficient T2L-scheme associated with edges of the background cells. The system equations are derived using the generalized smoothed Galerkin (GS-Galerkin) weak form, and the essential boundary conditions are imposed directly as in the finite element method (FEM). The effects of the number of divisions smoothing cells on the solution properties of the CS-RPIM are investigated in detail, and preferable numbers of smoothing cells is recommended. To verify the accuracy and stability of the present formulation, a number of numerical examples are studied to demonstrate numerically the efficiency of the present CS-RPIM.

In this paper, an edge-based smoothed finite element method (ES-FEM) is formulated for stress field determination of elastic–plastic problems using triangular meshes, in which smoothing domains associated with the edges of the triangles are used for smoothing operations to improve the accuracy and the convergence rate of the method. The smoothed Galerkin weak form is adopted to obtain the discretized system equations, and the numerical integration becomes a simple summation over the edge-based smoothing domains. The pseudo-elastic method is employed for the determination of stress field and Hencky's total deformation theory is used to define effective elastic material parameters, which are treated as field variables and considered as functions of the final state of stress fields. The effective elastic material parameters are then obtained in an iterative manner based on the strain controlled projection method from the uniaxial material curve. Some numerical examples are investigated and excellent results have been obtained demonstrating the effectivity of the present method.

A meshless local radial point interpolation method (LRPIM) for the bending and free vibration analysis of a nonhomogeneous moderately thick plate is presented in this paper. It uses a radial basis function coupled with a quadratic polynomial basis function as a trail function and a quartic spline function as a test function of the weighted residual method. The shape functions obtained in the trail function have the Kronecker delta function property, and the essential boundary conditions can be easily imposed. The present method is a true meshless method as it does not need any grids and all integrals can be easily evaluated over regularly shaped domains and their boundaries. In computational procedures, variations of material properties in the considered domain are modelled by adopting proper material parameters at Gauss points in integrations. Examples show that results obtained by the presented method are found to agree well with the existing solutions in the literature and with the results obtained by the finite element method, and the presented method has a number of advantages, such as high efficiency, quite good accuracy and easy implementation.

The computational details of a viscoplastic finite element analysis of three-dimensional superplastic forming (SPF) are discussed in this paper. Two typical superplastic forming shapes, conical bulging and rectangle box bulging, were analyzed and the experiment of conical bulging was performed to verify the numerical simulation. The inverse identification of superplastic material parameters incorporating the finite element method and an optimization technique was developed and an activity rule was proposed for effective selection of measurement locations in the experiment. Based on the numerical modeling, the influence of many factors such as the frictional coefficient, strain rate sensitivity and strain rate on the thickness distribution was studied and some useful conclusions were drawn.

Explicit finite element procedures for the simulation of sheet-metal-forming processes are reviewed. Improved techniques for contact searching and contact force evaluation are then proposed and discussed. In the contact searching algorithm, a new contact territory definition is introduced and only node-to-segment contact pairs are defined, which makes the post-contact searching more efficient and easy to implement. For contact force evaluation, a novel approach is employed to make the simulation of sheet forming processes more accurate. The algorithms are implemented and examined via experiments.

This paper presents an explicit smoothed finite element method (SFEM) for elastic dynamic problems. The central difference method for time integration will be used in presented formulations. A simple but general contact searching algorithm is used to treat the contact interface and an algorithm for the contact force is presented. In present method, the problem domain is first divided into elements as in the finite element method (FEM), and the elements are further subdivided into several smoothing cells. Cell-wise strain smoothing operations are used to obtain the stresses, which are constants in each smoothing cells. Area integration over the smoothing cell becomes line integration along its edges, and no gradient of shape functions is involved in computing the field gradients nor in forming the internal force. No mapping or coordinate transformation is necessary so that the element can be used effectively for large deformation problems. Through several examples, the simplicity, efficiency and reliability of the smoothed finite element method are demonstrated.

This paper presents a curvature-constructed method (CCM) for bending analysis of thin plates using three-node triangular cells and assumed piecewisely linear deflection field. In the present CCM, the formulation is based on the classic thin plate theory, and only deflection field is treated as the field variable that is assumed piecewisely linear using a set of three-node triangular background cells. The slopes at nodes and/or the mid-edge points of the triangular cells are first obtained using the gradient smoothing techniques (GST) over different smoothing domains. Three schemes are devised to construct the curvature in each cell using these slopes at nodes and/or the mid-edge points. The generalized smoothed Galerkin weak form is then used to create the discretized system equations. The essential rotational boundary conditions are imposed in the process of constructing the curvature field, and the translational boundary conditions are imposed in the same way as in the standard FEM. A number of numerical examples, including both static and free vibration analyses, are studied using the present CCM and the numerical results are compared with the analytical ones and those in the published literatures. The results show that outstanding schemes can obtain very accurate solutions.

A new method to evaluate the amount of springback in sheet forming processes based on the explicit finite element method and the orthogonal regression analysis is presented in this paper. To calculate springback accurately, a simple but effective contact searching algorithm is described and Lagrangian multiplier method was used to evaluate the contact force. The loading and unloading process could be simulated within one code. The numerical results by the present method were compared with the results by the commercial dynamic explicit code LS-DYNA3D, also with the experimental results and very good agreement was drawn. In order to obtain the springback conveniently for the purpose of practical use, the orthogonal regression analysis was implemented to establish the explicit relationship between the springback and some design parameters. The present method has been applied to the analysis of some actual sheet forming processes and very good agreement between the numerical results and the experimental results in the final geometry was obtained.