Non-conforming interface coupling and symmetric iterative solution in isogeometric FE–BE​ analysis

In this paper, a three-dimensional (3D) isogeometric finite element (FE) and boundary element (BE) coupling approach based on non-uniform rational B-splines (NURBS) is developed to simulate the deformed body. Based on the geometric exactness and higher smoothness of isogeometric analysis (IGA), NURBS discretization is applied to the approximation of geometric representation, displacement field and traction field simultaneously. An improved power series expansion method (M-PSEM) is used to evaluate the singular integral and is suitable for high order (≥3) NURBS basis functions, which is the limitation of the traditional method. Adaptive integration scheme based on quadtree subdivision technique is adopted to enable the non-singular integration computation more flexible and efficient at optimal computational cost. The relationship between the tractions and nodal external forces on the interface is established by using the virtual work principle. On the other hand, displacement coupling constraints among the non-conforming (or incomplete coincident) surface meshes are constructed by a virtual knot insertion technique. The main advantages of this method are simplicity and robustness, as it is problem-independent and only depends on the NURBS meshes on both sides of the interface. Introducing an enhanced symmetric matrix related to the BE subdomain, the symmetric iterative coupling method (SICM) is extended to solve the final system coupling equation. The final coupling matrix obtained by this iterative method is symmetric, and its dimension is the same as that of the stiffness matrix of IGA finite element method (IGAFEM). Numerical examples are investigated to assess the accuracy and efficiency of the presented method.