Output details
15 - General Engineering
Cardiff University
A robust preconditioning technique for the extended finite element method
The extended finite element method (XFEM) in its original form allows modelling evolving discontinuities and singularities in a fixed mesh, which reduces significantly the effort associated with meshing and remeshing as cracks propagate. The paper proposes a general and inexpensive preconditioner for XFEM, which decreases the condition number of the matrix and the number of iterations to convergence by two orders of magnitude, and the solution time by a factor of 2. The work has been use by dozens of engineers and applied mathematicians worldwide, to develop new numerical methods and for practical applications: composites, multi-phase flow, brittle fracture.