viernes, 4 de febrero de 2011

ON LAGRANGE'S UBIQUITI IN MODERN PHYSICS

This post is just to point out a quite dazzling phenomenon I have been encountering during this year of research: Joseph Louis Lagrange.



It happens to be that this Italian gentleman revolutionized the world of Physics some two hundred years ago (see here a beautiful explanation on how), in such a manner that now is nearly impossible not to encounter his surname nearly everywhere when trying to understand them.
The following is a short outline of the mathematical/physical concepts including Lagrange (a larger version can be found in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_topics_named_after_Joseph_Louis_Lagrange):

Lagrange multipliers

  • Lagrange multipliers: These are mathematical artifacts for the solution of optimization problems (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagrange_multiplier)
  • Euler-Lagrange equation: The Euler–Lagrange equation was developed in the 1750s by Euler and Lagrange in connection with their studies of the tautochrone problem. This is the problem of determining a curve on which a weighted particle will fall to a fixed point in a fixed amount of time, independent of the starting point. Lagrange solved this problem in 1755 and sent the solution to Euler. The two further developed Lagrange's method and applied it to mechanics, which led to the formulation of Lagrangian mechanics.
    Euler-Lagrange equation
    Their correspondence ultimately led to the calculus of variations, a term coined by Euler himself in 1766. In classical mechanics, it is equivalent to Newton's laws of motion, but it has the advantage that it takes the same form in any system of generalized coordinates, and it is better suited to generalizations. Is also related to optimization according to variational principles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler%E2%80%93Lagrange_equation).
  • Lagrangian function: The concept of a Lagrangian was originally introduced in a reformulation of classical mechanics by Irish mathematician William Rowan Hamilton known as Lagrangian mechanics.
    L = T - V.\quad
    Lagrangian function
    In classical mechanics, the Lagrangian is defined as the kinetic energy, T, of the system minus its potential energy.
  • Green-Lagrangian tensor: In continuum mechanics, the finite strain theory also called large strain theory, or large deformation theory, deals with deformations in which both rotations and strains are arbitrarily large. This means to invalidate the assumptions inherent in infinitesimal strain theory. In this case, the undeformed and deformed configurations of the continuum are significantly different and a clear distinction has to be made between them. This is commonly the case with elastomers, plastically-deforming materials and other fluids and biological soft tissue. The concept of strain is used to evaluate how much a given displacement differs locally from a rigid body displacement . One of such strains for large deformations is the Lagrangian finite strain tensor, also called the Green-Lagrangian strain tensor or Green - St-Venant strain tensor.
  • Lagrange description of motion. In continuum mechanics the Lagrangian specification of the flow field is a way of looking at fluid motion where the observer follows an individual fluid parcel as it moves through space and time. Plotting the position of an individual parcel through time gives the pathline of the parcel. This can be visualized as sitting in a boat and drifting down a river. The Eulerian specification of the flow field is a way of looking at fluid motion that focuses on specific locations in the space through which the fluid flows as time passes. This can be visualized by sitting on the bank of a river and watching the water pass the fixed location. The Lagrangian approach is also associated to particle based formulation, whereas the Eulerian is referred to as grid based formulations.
    Eulerian description
    Lagrangian description

     
And this is just a small sample. However, it fully justifies the name of the thesis and this blog's, as our research departs from Lagrange's work to try to find engineering solutions.
It must be said that Lagrange's prolificacy results somehow dazing and stunning, as there are so many fields he got involved in, and none of them of trivial nature.
I hope this quick outline serves others to find a way through all this tangled knowledge.

lunes, 22 de noviembre de 2010

A proposal on a course on Real-Time Structural Dynamics

 The following is a tree with the key concepts that, although already at reach of any graduated structural engineer, need to be tied together, maybe in a course, in order to achieve a proper scope on how to simulate real-time structural dynamics:
  • Main time integration methods (ODE), their limitations (drawbacks), advantages, motivation, references, illustrations, year, all related to the three disciplines applied physics, maths and applied computing:
      • 1st order
        • Euler
        • Backward Euler
        • Semi-implicit Euler
        • Exponential Euler
      • 2nd order
        • Verlet
        • Velocity Verlet
        • Midpoint Method
        • Heun's
        • Newmark-beta
        • Leapfrog
      • Higher order
        • Runge-Kutta
        • Linear multistep
  • Main constraint/collision (DAE) integration methods, their limitations (drawbacks), advantages, motivation, references, illustrations, year, all related to the three disciplines applied physics, maths and applied computing.
      • Coordinate Partitioning
      • Constraint Orthogonalization
      • Udwadia-Kalaba
  • Main matter/continuum (PDE) integration methods, their limitations (drawbacks), advantages, motivation, references, illustrations, year, all related to the three disciplines applied physics, maths and applied computing.
      • MESH BASED METHODS
        • Finite Element
        • Finite Differences
        • Finite Volume
        • Boundary Element
        • Mass-spring systems
      • MESH FREE METHODS
        • SPH
        • Diffuse Element Method
        • Partition of Unity
        • Moving Least Square
        • Reproducing Kernel Method
A graphical approach to ths subject, not so tied to complex formalisms and formulation, would be a real help to attract more researchers into this fascinating discipline.
It also would reinforce the interest on the very differential equations, as these are a very abstract concept explained and taught on a very abstract basis. This makes them first candidate to be either forgotten or banned into the minds of students.

I will try to develop these subjects with more care in future issues...

Se vidimo!

martes, 26 de octubre de 2010

Physics Engines Benchmarking

The target was to devise in some manner the way different computational physics simulation models/engines/environments performed against a canonical one.

For such purpose, I have reviewed the paper "Beam Benchmark Problems For Validation Of Flexible Multibody Dynamic Codes" by A.L. Schwab and J.P. Meijgaard.
The following is an outline of the proposed in this paper:

  • 1.- Introduction
    • The paper presents some basic problems for which analytic solution is known
  • 2.- Beam benchmark problems
    • Tests to be performed
      • Static analyses in small displacements for the validation of the correct formulation of elastic forces
      • Static analyses for large displacements and rotations, on straight and curved beams
      • Buckling tests in normal, lateral and torsional directions to check the way geometric stiffness due to prestress is taken into account
      • Eigenfrequency analyses for the validation of the combination of elastic forces and distributed inertia forces
      • Mesh refinement tests for all the above to prove convergence of the results
    • Underlying model: Timoshenko beam with large displacements and large rotations
      • Finite Element Method Beam Element
      • Shear flexible based on the elastic line concept
      • Slender beam, cross section doubly symmetric
      • Large rotation and displacements, but small deformations
      • Isotropic and linearly elastic
      • BEAM model: standard strain-displacement relations
      • BEAMNL model: additional quadratic terms included in the strain-displacement for better performance in the pre-stress cases
Interestingly enough, the analytical solution is provided for each of the tests, and the proposed model is simple enough so as not having too much trouble in introducing it in a few characteristic ready made softwares currently available.

The implementation of such a benchmark over some of the most popular engines revised lately would surely make a nice contribution.

jueves, 14 de octubre de 2010

Integration Overview

In order to get some scope I have prepared a new diagram where the different integration fields of any multibody physics engine can be fit.
Normally we have to integrate time, via ODEs, for which any of the available schemes can be chosen, but then also the Differential Algebraic Equations for constraints (related to collisions) and the Partial Differential Equations related to the continuum have to be solved.

Of course, not every engine implements the continuum part (limiting to rigid solid) and some matter integration schemes already consider the very collisions so the constraint integration is explicitly sorted...

The associated disciplines where each concept fits are represented by the horizontal blocks.