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Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1 Overview
Nowadays, meshless methods are new numerical methods for computational mechanics.
Meshless methods are used to establish a system of algebraic equations for the whole problem
domain without the use of a predefined mesh. These methods use a set of nodes scattered
within the problem domain as well as sets of nodes scattered on the boundaries of the domain
to represent the problem domain and its boundaries. These sets of scattered nodes have
employed in building a field variable approximation.

In meshless methods discontinuities can grow in arbitrary directions, making them ideal
in applications where the finite element method have the most difficulty. Currently, there are
a number of meshless methods, such as the element free Galerkin (EFG) method (Belytschko
et al., 1994), the Meshless Local Petrov-Galerkin (MLPG) method (Atluri and Zhu, 1998), the
Point Interpolation method (PIM) (Liu G.R and Gu Y.T, 1999), the Point Assembly Method
(PAM) (Liu G.R, 1999), the Finite Point Method (Oñate et al., 1996), the Finite Difference
Method with arbitrary grids (Liszka and Orkisz, 1980; Jensen, 1980), Smooth Particle
Hydrodynamics (SPH) (Lucy, 1977; Gingold and Monaghan, 1977), Reproducing Kernel
Particle Method (Liu, W.K et al., 1993), etc.

The EFG method, first developed by Belytschko, Lu and Gu (1994) is now well known
and has been widely used during the last decade. The method only requires a set of nodes and
a description of the boundary to construct the connectivity and shape functions. The
connectivity is defined according to nodal weight functions that possess compact support, so
that each node only affects the local region surrounding it, called its domain of influence. The
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 2
shape functions are constructed using moving least square (MLS) approximations which have
been developed for curve and surface fitting of random data (Lancaster and Salkauskas,
1981). In addition, in EFG the shape function derivatives are computed exactly, and essential
boundary conditions are enforced using Lagrange multipliers. Additional techniques for
enforcing essential boundary condition have also been developed.

Furthermore, the fields of dual analysis are also mentioned in this thesis. The dual
analysis concept was introduced by Fraeijs de Veubeke (1963) and (2001) in the framework
of the FEM. The dual analysis concept was obviously the main guideline of the research
performed at the Aerospace Laboratory of the Liège University (LTAS) during the sixties and
seventies. Details can be found in Debongnie and Beckers (2000) and (2001). The analysis in
this thesis is based on the more recent and more general formulation of Debongnie, Zhong
and Beckers (1995) in FEM. Together the main ideas of my thesis are based on the ideas of
Duflot and Nguyen-Dang (2001) and (2004).

1.2 Main works

Thus, if FEM exist for dual analysis, there must exist for meshless method. Indeed the
application of the dual method in the context of the Element Free Galerkin method was first
developed by Duflot and Nguyen-Dang (2001) and (2004). However, these results only
obtained the upper and lower bounds of strain energy. The difference between these bounds
gives a global error estimation on the solution. This thesis is built on the work of Duflot and
Nguyen-Dang (2001) and (2004) by providing detailed comparison of the equilibrium and
displacement approaches. Estimations of the convergence rates and energy-error norms for
the displacement and equilibrium approaches are compared. A parameter study is carried out
so as to, for instance; better understand the effects of the interpolation domain size on the
quality of the results. Stresses obtained both from equilibrium model and classical
displacement model are compared with analytical solutions.

Moreover, the detail algorithms and procedures for computing the meshless shape
functions and their derivatives as well as the procedure for solving the EFG for both
displacement and equilibrium approaches are also presented. The most critical and difficult
point in equilibrium models is to satisfy the equilibrium at each point in the domain.
Additionally, the equilibrium formulation requires the computation of the second-order
derivatives of the shape function. Currently there are other methods to impose essential
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 3
boundary conditions but in this thesis we only used Lagrange multipliers. In this respect, the
numerical examples were illustrated in two-dimensional linear elasticity.

1.3 Outline

The thesis focuses on element free Galerkin methods for dual analysis of elastostatic
problems. In Chapter 1, an overview of meshless methods and duality method is given. The
element free Galerkin method is mentioned in Chapter 2. Therein, the MLS approximation is
constructed for the computation of the shape functions and their derivatives. Especially the
second-order derivatives of the shape and weight functions are presented in the cases of
circular and rectangular supports. Moreover, the choice of the basis functions, the support
domain, the domain influence, the determination of the dimension of a support domain and
the choice of weight functions are also discussed here. Finally the algorithm employed for the
computation of the EFG shape function is presented in a flowchart for clarity.

Meshless dual analyses and meshless displacement and equilibrium models are
performed in Chapter 3. The dual analysis theory is briefly recalled as well as the classical
displacement model. The emphasis in Chapter 3 is on the meshless equilibrium model the
Lagrange multipliers to impose the essential boundary conditions, which is presented in
Section 3.4. From the analysis of both models, we obtained the upper and lower bounds of
energy that led to the estimation of a global error. To illustrate the main ideas of the thesis,
numerical examples are presented in Chapter 4. The final chapter, Chapter 5, presents the
conclusions and discussions.