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Luca Heltai

Publications and source records attributed to Luca Heltai.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
arXiv2021

Propagating geometry information to finite element computations

The traditional workflow in continuum mechanics simulations is that a geometry description -- for example obtained using Constructive Solid Geometry or Computer Aided Design tools -- forms the input for a mesh generator. The mesh is then used as the sole input for the finite element, finite volume, and finite difference solver, which at this point no longer has access to the original, "underlying" geometry. However, many modern techniques -- for example, adaptive mesh refinement and the use of higher order geometry approximation methods -- really do need information about the underlying geometry to realize their full potential. We have undertaken an exhaustive study of where typical finite element codes use geometry information, with the goal of determining what information geometry tools would have to provide. Our study shows that nearly all geometry-related needs inside the simulators can be satisfied by just two "primitives": elementary queries posed by the simulation software to the geometry description. We then show that it is possible to provide these primitives in all of the frequently used ways in which geometries are described in common industrial workflows, and illustrate our solutions using a number of examples.

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arXiv2021

Vibration Analysis of Piezoelectric Kirchhoff-Love Shells based on Catmull-Clark Subdivision Surfaces

An isogeometric Galerkin approach for analysing the free vibrations of piezoelectric shells is presented. The shell kinematics is specialised to infinitesimal deformations and follow the Kirchhoff-Love hypothesis. Both the geometry and physical fields are discretised using Catmull-Clark subdivision bases. It provides the required C1 continuous discretisation for the Kirchhoff-Love theory. The crystalline structure of piezoelectric materials is described using an anisotropic constitutive relation. Hamilton's variational principle is applied to the dynamic analysis to derive the weak form of the governing equations. The coupled eigenvalue problem is formulated by considering the problem of harmonic vibration in the absence of external load. The formulation for the purely elastic case is verified using a spherical thin shell benchmark. Thereafter, the piezoelectric effect and vibration modes of a transverse isotropic curved plate are analysed and evaluated for the Scordelis-Lo roof problem. Finally, the eigenvalue analysis of a CAD model of a piezoelectric speaker shell structure showcases the ability of the proposed method to handle complex geometries.

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arXiv2021

Smoothed-adaptive perturbed inverse iteration for elliptic eigenvalue problems

We present a perturbed subspace iteration algorithm to approximate the lowermost eigenvalue cluster of an elliptic eigenvalue problem. As a prototype, we consider the Laplace eigenvalue problem posed in a polygonal domain. The algorithm is motivated by the analysis of inexact (perturbed) inverse iteration algorithms in numerical linear algebra. We couple the perturbed inverse iteration approach with mesh refinement strategy based on residual estimators. We demonstrate our approach on model problems in two and three dimensions.

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arXiv2020

Quasi-optimal mesh sequence construction through Smoothed Adaptive Finite Element Method

We propose a new algorithm for Adaptive Finite Element Methods (AFEMs) based on smoothing iterations (S-AFEM), for linear, second-order, elliptic partial differential equations (PDEs). The algorithm is inspired by the ascending phase of the V-cycle multigrid method: we replace accurate algebraic solutions in intermediate cycles of the classical AFEM with the application of a prolongation step, followed by the application of a smoother. Even though these intermediate solutions are far from the exact algebraic solutions, their a-posteriori error estimation produces a refinement pattern that is substantially equivalent to the one that would be generated by classical AFEM, at a considerable fraction of the computational cost. We provide a qualitative analysis of how the error propagates throughout the algorithm, and we present a series of numerical experiments that highlight the efficiency and the computational speedup of S-AFEM.

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arXiv2020

A priori error estimates of regularized elliptic problems

Approximations of the Dirac delta distribution are commonly used to create sequences of smooth functions approximating nonsmooth (generalized) functions, via convolution. In this work, we show a priori rates of convergence of this approximation process in standard Sobolev norms, with minimal regularity assumptions on the approximation of the Dirac delta distribution. The application of these estimates to the numerical solution of elliptic problems with singularly supported forcing terms allows us to provide sharp $H^1$ and $L^2$ error estimates for the corresponding regularized problem. As an application, we show how finite element approximations of a regularized immersed interface method result in the same rates of convergence of its non-regularized counterpart, provided that the support of the Dirac delta approximation is set to a multiple of the mesh size, at a fraction of the implementation complexity. Numerical experiments are provided to support our theories.

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arXiv2020

Multiscale modeling of fiber reinforced materials via non-matching immersed methods

Fiber reinforced materials (FRMs) can be modeled as bi-phasic materials, where different constitutive behaviors are associated with different phases. The numerical study of FRMs through a full geometrical resolution of the two phases is often computationally infeasible, and therefore most works on the subject resort to homogenization theory, and exploit strong regularity assumptions on the fibers distribution. Both approaches fall short in intermediate regimes where lack of regularity does not justify a homogenized approach, and when the fiber geometry or their numerosity render the fully resolved problem numerically intractable. In this paper, we propose a distributed Lagrange multiplier approach, where the effect of the fibers is superimposed on a background isotropic material through an independent description of the fibers. The two phases are coupled through a constraint condition, opening the way for intricate fiber-bulk couplings as well as allowing complex geometries with no alignment requirements between the discretisation of the background elastic matrix and the fibers. We analyze both a full order coupling, where the elastic matrix is coupled with fibers that have a finite thickness, as well as a reduced order model, where the position of their centerline uniquely determines the fibers. Well posedness, existence, and uniquess of solutions are shown both for the continuous models, and for the finite element discretizations. We validate our approach against the models derived by the rule of mixtures, and by the Halpin-Tsai formulation.

math.NA↗
arXiv2020

A numerical study of the jerky crack growth in elastoplastic materials with localized plasticity

We present a numerical implementation of a model of quasi-static crack growth in linearly elastic-perfectly plastic materials. We assume that the displacement is antiplane, and that the cracks and the plastic slips are localized on a prescribed path. We provide numerical evidence of the fact that the crack growth is intermittent, with jump characteristics that depend on the material properties.

math.NA↗
arXiv2020

The deal.II finite element library: design, features, and insights

deal.II is a state-of-the-art finite element library focused on generality, dimension-independent programming, parallelism, and extensibility. Herein, we outline its primary design considerations and its sophisticated features such as distributed meshes, $hp$-adaptivity, support for complex geometries, and matrix-free algorithms. But deal.II is more than just a software library: It is also a diverse and worldwide community of developers and users, as well as an educational platform. We therefore also discuss some of the technical and social challenges and lessons learned in running a large community software project over the course of two decades.

cs.MS↗
arXiv2019

Multiscale modeling of vascularized tissues via non-matching immersed methods

We consider a multiscale approach based on immersed methods for the efficient computational modeling of tissues composed of an elastic matrix (in two or three-dimensions) and a thin vascular structure (treated as a co-dimension two manifold) at a given pressure. We derive different variational formulations of the coupled problem, in which the effect of the vasculature can be surrogated in the elasticity equations via singular or hyper-singular forcing terms. These terms only depend on information defined on co-dimension two manifolds (such as vessel center line, cross sectional area, and mean pressure over cross section), thus drastically reducing the complexity of the computational model. We perform several numerical tests, ranging from simple cases with known exact solutions to the modeling of materials with random distributions of vessels. In the latter case, we use our immersed method to perform an in silico characterization of the mechanical properties of the effective biphasic material tissue via statistical simulations.

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arXiv2019

Error estimates in weighted Sobolev norms for finite element immersed interface methods

When solving elliptic partial differential equations in a region containing immersed interfaces (possibly evolving in time), it is often desirable to approximate the problem using an independent background discretisation, not aligned with the interface itself. Optimal convergence rates are possible if the discretisation scheme is enriched by allowing the discrete solution to have jumps aligned with the surface, at the cost of a higher complexity in the implementation. A much simpler way to reformulate immersed interface problems consists in replacing the interface by a singular force field that produces the desired interface conditions, as done in immersed boundary methods. These methods are known to have inferior convergence properties, depending on the global regularity of the solution across the interface, when compared to enriched methods. In this work we prove that this detrimental effect on the convergence properties of the approximate solution is only a local phenomenon, restricted to a small neighbourhood of the interface. In particular we show that optimal approximations can be constructed in a natural and inexpensive way, simply by reformulating the problem in a distributionally consistent way, and by resorting to weighted norms when computing the global error of the approximation.

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arXiv2018

Accelerating the iterative solution of convection-diffusion problems using singular value decomposition

The discretization of convection-diffusion equations by implicit or semi-implicit methods leads to a sequence of linear systems usually solved by iterative linear solvers such as GMRES. Many techniques bearing the name of \emph{recycling Krylov space methods} have been proposed to speed up the convergence rate after restarting, usually based on the selection and retention of some Arnoldi vectors. After providing a unified framework for the description of a broad class of recycling methods and preconditioners, we propose an alternative recycling strategy based on a singular value decomposition selection of previous solutions, and exploit this information in classical and new augmentation and deflation methods. The numerical tests in scalar non-linear convection-diffusion problems are promising for high-order methods.

math.NA↗
arXiv2018

Iterative map-making with two-level preconditioning for polarized Cosmic Microwave Background data sets

An estimation of the sky signal from streams of Time Ordered Data (TOD) acquired by Cosmic Microwave Background (\cmb) experiments is one of the most important steps in the context of \cmb data analysis referred to as the map-making problem. The continuously growing \cmb data sets render the \cmb map-making problem more challenging in terms of computational cost and memory in particular in the context of ground based experiments. In this context, we study a novel class of the Preconditioned Conjugate Gradient (PCG) solvers which invoke two-level preconditioners. We compare them against PCG solvers commonly used in the map-making context considering their precision and time-to-solution. We compare these new methods on realistic, simulated data sets reflecting the characteristics of current and forthcoming \cmb ground-based experiment. We develop an embarrassingly parallel implementation of the approach where each processor performs a sequential map-making for a subset of the TOD. We find that considering the map level residuals the new class of solvers permits achieving tolerance of up to 3 orders of magnitude better than the standard approach, where the residual level often saturates before convergence is reached. This corresponds to an important improvement in the precision of recovered power spectra in particular on the largest angular scales. The new method also typically requires fewer iterations to reach a required precision and thus shorter runtimes for a single map-making solution. However, the construction of an appropriate two-level preconditioner can be as costly as a single standard map-making run. Nevertheless, if the same problem needs to be solved multiple times, e.g., as in Monte Carlo simulations, this cost has to be incurred only once, and the method should be competitive not only as far as its precision but also its performance is concerned.

astro-ph.CO↗
arXiv2018

NURBS-SEM: a hybrid spectral element method on NURBS maps for the solution of elliptic PDEs on surfaces

Non Uniform Rational B-spline (NURBS) patches are a standard way to describe complex geometries in Computer Aided Design tools, and have gained a lot of popularity in recent years also for the approximation of partial differential equations, via the Isogeometric Analysis (IGA) paradigm. However, spectral accuracy in IGA is limited to relatively small NURBS patch degrees (roughly p <= 8), since local condition numbers grow very rapidly for higher degrees. On the other hand, traditional Spectral Element Methods (SEM) guarantee spectral accuracy but often require complex and expensive meshing techniques, like transfinite mapping, that result anyway in inexact geometries. In this work we propose a hybrid NURBS-SEM approximation method that achieves spectral accuracy and maintains exact geometry representation by combining the advantages of IGA and SEM. As a prototypical problem on non trivial geometries, we consider the Laplace--Beltrami and Allen--Cahn equations on a surface. On these problems, we present a comparison of several instances of NURBS-SEM with the standard Galerkin and Collocation Isogeometric Analysis (IGA).

math.NA↗
arXiv2017

A distributed Lagrange formulation of the Finite Element Immersed Boundary Method for fluids interacting with compressible solids

We present a distributed Lagrange multiplier formulation of the Finite Element Immersed Boundary Method to couple incompressible fluids with compressible solids. This is a generalization of the formulation presented in Heltai and Costanzo (2012), that offers a cleaner variational formulation, thanks to the introduction of distributed Lagrange multipliers, that acts as intermediary between the fluid and solid equations, keeping the two formulation mostly separated. Stability estimates and a brief numerical validation are presented.

math.NA↗
arXiv2017

A natural framework for isogeometric fluid-structure interaction based on BEM-shell coupling

The interaction between thin structures and incompressible Newtonian fluids is ubiquitous both in nature and in industrial applications. In this paper we present an isogeometric formulation of such problems which exploits a boundary integral formulation of Stokes equations to model the surrounding flow, and a non linear Kirchhoff-Love shell theory to model the elastic behaviour of the structure. We propose three different coupling strategies: a monolithic, fully implicit coupling, a staggered, elasticity driven coupling, and a novel semi-implicit coupling, where the effect of the surrounding flow is incorporated in the non-linear terms of the solid solver through its damping characteristics. The novel semi-implicit approach is then used to demonstrate the power and robustness of our method, which fits ideally in the isogeometric paradigm, by exploiting only the boundary representation (B-Rep) of the thin structure middle surface.

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arXiv2015

Benchmarking the Immersed Finite Element Method for Fluid-Structure Interaction Problems

We present an implementation of a fully variational formulation of an immersed method for fluid-structure interaction problems based on the finite element method. While typical implementation of immersed methods are characterized by the use of approximate Dirac delta distributions, fully variational formulations of the method do not require the use of said distributions. In our implementation the immersed solid is general in the sense that it is not required to have the same mass density and the same viscous response as the surrounding fluid. We assume that the immersed solid can be either viscoelastic of differential type or hyperelastic. Here we focus on the validation of the method via various benchmarks for fluid-structure interaction numerical schemes. This is the first time that the interaction of purely elastic compressible solids and an incompressible fluid is approached via an immersed method allowing a direct comparison with established benchmarks.

math.NA↗
arXiv2015

Optimally swimming Stokesian robots

We study self propelled stokesian robots composed of assemblies of balls, in dimensions 2 and 3, and prove that they are able to control their position and orientation. This is a result of controllability, and its proof relies on applying Chow's theorem in an analytic framework, similarly to what has been done in [3] for an axisymmetric system swimming along the axis of symmetry. However, we simplify drastically the analyticity result given in [3] and apply it to a situation where more complex swimmers move either in a plane or in three-dimensional space, hence experiencing also rotations. We then focus our attention on energetically optimal strokes, which we are able to compute numerically. Some examples of computed optimal strokes are discussed in detail.

math.OC↗