A Parallel GPU Implementation of the Absolute Nodal Coordinate Formulation With a Frictional/Contact Model for the Simulation of Large Flexible Body Systems

Author(s):  
Naresh Khude ◽  
Dan Melanz ◽  
Ilinca Stanciulescu ◽  
Dan Negrut

This contribution discusses how a flexible body formalism, specifically, the Absolute Nodal Coordinate Formulation (ANCF), is combined with a frictional/contact model using the Discrete Element Method (DEM) to address many-body dynamics problems; i.e., problems with hundreds of thousands of rigid and deformable bodies. Since the computational effort associated with these problems is significant, the analytical framework is implemented to leverage the computational power available on today’s commodity Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) cards. The code developed is validated against ANSYS and FEAP results. The resulting simulation capability is demonstrated in conjunction with hair simulation.

Author(s):  
Naresh Khude ◽  
Ilinca Stanciulescu ◽  
Daniel Melanz ◽  
Dan Negrut

This contribution outlines a computational framework for the analysis of flexible multibody dynamics contact problems. The framework combines a flexible body formalism, specifically, the absolute nodal coordinate formulation (ANCF), with a discrete continuous contact force model to address many-body dynamics problems, i.e., problems with hundreds of thousands of rigid and deformable bodies. Since the computational effort associated with these problems is significant, the analytical framework is implemented to leverage the computational power available on today's commodity graphical processing unit (GPU) cards. The framework developed is validated against commercial and research finite element software. The robustness and efficiency of this approach is demonstrated through numerical simulations. The resulting simulation capability is shown to result in 2 orders of magnitude shorter simulation times for systems with a large number of flexible beams that might typically be encountered in hair or polymer simulations.


Author(s):  
Imad M. Khan ◽  
Kurt S. Anderson

In this paper, we investigate the absolute nodal coordinate finite element (FE) formulations for modeling multi-flexible-body systems in a divide-and-conquer framework. Large elastic deformations in the individual components (beams and plates) are modeled using the absolute nodal coordinate formulation (ANCF). The divide-and-conquer algorithm (DCA) is utilized to model the constraints arising due to kinematic joints between the flexible components. We develop necessary equations of the new algorithm and present numerical examples to test and validate the method.


2004 ◽  
Vol 127 (4) ◽  
pp. 621-630 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimmo S. Kerkkänen ◽  
Jussi T. Sopanen ◽  
Aki M. Mikkola

In this paper, a new two-dimensional shear deformable beam element based on the absolute nodal coordinate formulation is proposed. The nonlinear elastic forces of the beam element are obtained using a continuum mechanics approach, without employing a local element coordinate system. In this study, linear polynomials are used to interpolate both the transverse and longitudinal components of the displacement. This is different from other absolute nodal-coordinate-based beam elements where cubic polynomials are used in the longitudinal direction. The use of linear interpolation polynomials leads to the phenomenon known as shear locking. This defect is avoided through the adoption of selective integration within the numerical integration method. The proposed element is verified using several numerical examples. The results of the proposed element are compared to analytical solutions and the results for an existing shear deformable beam element. It is shown that by using the proposed element, accurate linear and nonlinear static deformations, as well as realistic dynamic behavior including the capturing of the centrifugal stiffening effect, can be achieved with a smaller computational effort than by using existing shear deformable two-dimensional beam elements.


Author(s):  
Daniel Melanz ◽  
Naresh Khude ◽  
Paramsothy Jayakumar ◽  
Mike Leatherwood ◽  
Dan Negrut

The Absolute Nodal Coordinate Formulation (ANCF) has been widely used to carry out the dynamics analysis of flexible bodies that undergo large rotation and large deformation. This formulation is consistent with the nonlinear theory of continuum mechanics and is computationally more efficient compared to other nonlinear finite element formulations. Kinematic constraints that represent mechanical joints and specified motion trajectories can be introduced to make complex flexible mechanisms. As the complexity of a mechanism increases, the system of differential algebraic equations becomes very large and results in a computational bottleneck. This contribution helps alleviate this bottleneck using three tools: (1) an implicit time-stepping algorithm, (2) fine-grained parallel processing on the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), and (3) enabling parallelism through a novel Constraint-Based Mesh (CBM) approach. The combination of these tools results in a fast solution process that scales linearly for large numbers of elements, allowing meaningful engineering problems to be solved.


1999 ◽  
Vol 122 (4) ◽  
pp. 498-507 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcello Campanelli ◽  
Marcello Berzeri ◽  
Ahmed A. Shabana

Many flexible multibody applications are characterized by high inertia forces and motion discontinuities. Because of these characteristics, problems can be encountered when large displacement finite element formulations are used in the simulation of flexible multibody systems. In this investigation, the performance of two different large displacement finite element formulations in the analysis of flexible multibody systems is investigated. These are the incremental corotational procedure proposed in an earlier article (Rankin, C. C., and Brogan, F. A., 1986, ASME J. Pressure Vessel Technol., 108, pp. 165–174) and the non-incremental absolute nodal coordinate formulation recently proposed (Shabana, A. A., 1998, Dynamics of Multibody Systems, 2nd ed., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge). It is demonstrated in this investigation that the limitation resulting from the use of the infinitesmal nodal rotations in the incremental corotational procedure can lead to simulation problems even when simple flexible multibody applications are considered. The absolute nodal coordinate formulation, on the other hand, does not employ infinitesimal or finite rotation coordinates and leads to a constant mass matrix. Despite the fact that the absolute nodal coordinate formulation leads to a non-linear expression for the elastic forces, the results presented in this study, surprisingly, demonstrate that such a formulation is efficient in static problems as compared to the incremental corotational procedure. The excellent performance of the absolute nodal coordinate formulation in static and dynamic problems can be attributed to the fact that such a formulation does not employ rotations and leads to exact representation of the rigid body motion of the finite element. [S1050-0472(00)00604-8]


Author(s):  
Marcello Berzeri ◽  
Marcello Campanelli ◽  
A. A. Shabana

Abstract The equivalence of the elastic forces of finite element formulations used in flexible multibody dynamics is the focus of this investigation. Two conceptually different finite element formulations that lead to exact modeling of the rigid body dynamics will be used. These are the floating frame of reference formulation and the absolute nodal coordinate formulation. It is demonstrated in this study that different element coordinate systems, which are used for the convenience of describing the element deformations in the absolute nodal coordinate formulation, lead to similar results as the element size is reduced. The equivalence of the elastic forces in the absolute nodal coordinate and the floating frame of reference formulations is shown. The result of this analysis clearly demonstrates that the instability observed in high speed rotor analytical models due to the neglect of the geometric centrifugal stiffening is not a problem inherent to a particular finite element formulation but only depends on the beam model that is used. Fourier analysis of the solutions obtained in this investigation also sheds new light on the fundamental problem of the choice of the deformable body coordinate system in the floating frame of reference formulation. A new method is presented and used to obtain a simple expression for the elastic forces in the absolute nodal coordinate formulation. This method, which employs a nonlinear elastic strain-displacement relationship, does not result in an unstable solution when the angular velocity is increased.


Author(s):  
R. Y. Yakoub ◽  
A. A. Shabana

Abstract By utilizing the fact that the absolute nodal coordinate formulation leads to a constant mass matrix, a Cholesky decomposition of the mass matrix can be used to obtain a constant velocity transformation matrix. This velocity transformation can be used to express the absolute nodal coordinates in terms of the generalized Cholesky coordinates. In this case, the inertia matrix associated with the Cholesky coordinates is the identity matrix, and therefore, an optimum sparse matrix structure can be obtained for the augmented multibody equations of motions. The implementation of a computer procedure based on the absolute nodal coordinate formulation and Cholesky coordinates is discussed in this paper. A flexible four-bar linkage is presented in this paper in order to demonstrate the use of Cholesky coordinates in the simulation of the small and large deformations in flexible multibody applications. The results obtained from the absolute nodal coordinate formulation are compared to those obtained from the floating frame of reference formulation.


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