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All-Hex Meshing of Multiple-Region Domains without Cleanup

Procedia Engineering

Awad, Muhammad A.; Rushdi, Ahmad A.; Abbas, Misarah A.; Mitchell, Scott A.; Mahmoud, Ahmed H.; Bajaj, Chandrajit L.; Ebeida, Mohamed S.

In this paper, we present a new algorithm for all-hex meshing of domains with multiple regions without post-processing cleanup. Our method starts with a strongly balanced octree. In contrast to snapping the grid points onto the geometric boundaries, we move points a slight distance away from the common boundaries. Then we intersect the moved grid with the geometry. This allows us to avoid creating any flat angles, and we are able to handle two-sided regions and more complex topologies than prior methods. The algorithm is robust and cleanup-free; without the use of any pillowing, swapping, or smoothing. Thus, our simple algorithm is also more predictable than prior art.

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All-quad meshing without cleanup

CAD Computer Aided Design

Rushdi, Ahmad A.; Mitchell, Scott A.; Mahmoud, Ahmed H.; Bajaj, Chandrajit C.; Ebeida, Mohamed S.

We present an all-quad meshing algorithm for general domains. We start with a strongly balanced quadtree. In contrast to snapping the quadtree corners onto the geometric domain boundaries, we move them away from the geometry. Then we intersect the moved grid with the geometry. The resulting polygons are converted into quads with midpoint subdivision. Moving away avoids creating any flat angles, either at a quadtree corner or at a geometry–quadtree intersection. We are able to handle two-sided domains, and more complex topologies than prior methods. The algorithm is provably correct and robust in practice. It is cleanup-free, meaning we have angle and edge length bounds without the use of any pillowing, swapping, or smoothing. Thus, our simple algorithm is fast and predictable. This paper has better quality bounds, and the algorithm is demonstrated over more complex domains, than our prior version.

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Dakota, a multilevel parallel object-oriented framework for design optimization, parameter estimation, uncertainty quantification, and sensitivity analysis :

Adams, Brian M.; Jakeman, John D.; Swiler, Laura P.; Stephens, John A.; Vigil, Dena V.; Wildey, Timothy M.; Bauman, Lara E.; Bohnhoff, William J.; Dalbey, Keith D.; Eddy, John P.; Ebeida, Mohamed S.; Eldred, Michael S.; Hough, Patricia D.; Hu, Kenneth H.

The Dakota (Design Analysis Kit for Optimization and Terascale Applications) toolkit provides a exible and extensible interface between simulation codes and iterative analysis methods. Dakota contains algorithms for optimization with gradient and nongradient-based methods; uncertainty quanti cation with sampling, reliability, and stochastic expansion methods; parameter estimation with nonlinear least squares methods; and sensitivity/variance analysis with design of experiments and parameter study methods. These capabilities may be used on their own or as components within advanced strategies such as surrogate-based optimization, mixed integer nonlinear programming, or optimization under uncertainty. By employing object-oriented design to implement abstractions of the key components required for iterative systems analyses, the Dakota toolkit provides a exible and extensible problem-solving environment for design and performance analysis of computational models on high performance computers. This report serves as a user's manual for the Dakota software and provides capability overviews and procedures for software execution, as well as a variety of example studies.

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Dakota, a multilevel parallel object-oriented framework for design optimization, parameter estimation, uncertainty quantification, and sensitivity analysis version 6.0 theory manual

Adams, Brian M.; Jakeman, John D.; Swiler, Laura P.; Stephens, John A.; Vigil, Dena V.; Wildey, Timothy M.; Bauman, Lara E.; Bohnhoff, William J.; Dalbey, Keith D.; Eddy, John P.; Ebeida, Mohamed S.; Eldred, Michael S.; Hough, Patricia D.; Hu, Kenneth H.

The Dakota (Design Analysis Kit for Optimization and Terascale Applications) toolkit provides a exible and extensible interface between simulation codes and iterative analysis methods. Dakota contains algorithms for optimization with gradient and nongradient-based methods; uncertainty quanti cation with sampling, reliability, and stochastic expansion methods; parameter estimation with nonlinear least squares methods; and sensitivity/variance analysis with design of experiments and parameter study methods. These capabilities may be used on their own or as components within advanced strategies such as surrogate-based optimization, mixed integer nonlinear programming, or optimization under uncertainty. By employing object-oriented design to implement abstractions of the key components required for iterative systems analyses, the Dakota toolkit provides a exible and extensible problem-solving environment for design and performance analysis of computational models on high performance computers. This report serves as a theoretical manual for selected algorithms implemented within the Dakota software. It is not intended as a comprehensive theoretical treatment, since a number of existing texts cover general optimization theory, statistical analysis, and other introductory topics. Rather, this manual is intended to summarize a set of Dakota-related research publications in the areas of surrogate-based optimization, uncertainty quanti cation, and optimization under uncertainty that provide the foundation for many of Dakota's iterative analysis capabilities.

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Disk Density Tuning of a Maximal Random Packing

Computer Graphics Forum

Ebeida, Mohamed S.; Rushdi, Ahmad A.; Awad, Muhammad A.; Mahmoud, Ahmed H.; Yan, Dong M.; English, Shawn A.; Owens, John D.; Bajaj, Chandrajit L.; Mitchell, Scott A.

We introduce an algorithmic framework for tuning the spatial density of disks in a maximal random packing, without changing the sizing function or radii of disks. Starting from any maximal random packing such as a Maximal Poisson-disk Sampling (MPS), we iteratively relocate, inject (add), or eject (remove) disks, using a set of three successively more-aggressive local operations. We may achieve a user-defined density, either more dense or more sparse, almost up to the theoretical structured limits. The tuned samples are conflict-free, retain coverage maximality, and, except in the extremes, retain the blue noise randomness properties of the input. We change the density of the packing one disk at a time, maintaining the minimum disk separation distance and the maximum domain coverage distance required of any maximal packing. These properties are local, and we can handle spatially-varying sizing functions. Using fewer points to satisfy a sizing function improves the efficiency of some applications. We apply the framework to improve the quality of meshes, removing non-obtuse angles; and to more accurately model fiber reinforced polymers for elastic and failure simulations.

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Efficient Probability of Failure Calculations for QMU using Computational Geometry LDRD 13-0144 Final Report

Mitchell, Scott A.; Ebeida, Mohamed S.; Romero, Vicente J.; Swiler, Laura P.; Rushdi, Ahmad A.; Abdelkader, Ahmad A.

This SAND report summarizes our work on the Sandia National Laboratory LDRD project titled "Efficient Probability of Failure Calculations for QMU using Computational Geometry" which was project #165617 and proposal #13-0144. This report merely summarizes our work. Those interested in the technical details are encouraged to read the full published results, and contact the report authors for the status of the software and follow-on projects.

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Fast Approximate Union Volume in High Dimensions with Line Samples

Mitchell, Scott A.; Awad, Muhammad A.; Ebeida, Mohamed S.; Swiler, Laura P.

The classical problem of calculating the volume of the union of d-dimensional balls is known as "Union Volume." We present line-sampling approximation algorithms for Union Volume. Our methods may be extended to other Boolean operations, such as setminus; or to other shapes, such as hyper-rectangles. The deterministic, exact approaches for Union Volume do not scale well to high dimensions. However, we adapt several of these exact approaches to approximation algorithms based on sampling. We perform local sampling within each ball using lines. We have several variations, depending on how the overlapping volume is partitioned, and depending on whether radial, axis-aligned, or other line patterns are used. Our variations fall within the family of Monte Carlo sampling, and hence have about the same theoretical convergence rate, 1 /$\sqrt{M}$, where M is the number of samples. In our limited experiments, line-sampling proved more accurate per unit work than point samples, because a line sample provides more information, and the analytic equation for a sphere makes the calculation almost as fast. We performed a limited empirical study of the efficiency of these variations. We suggest a more extensive study for future work. We speculate that different ball arrangements, differentiated by the distribution of overlaps in terms of volume and degree, will benefit the most from patterns of line samples that preferentially capture those overlaps. Acknowledgement We thank Karl Bringman for explaining his BF-ApproxUnion (ApproxUnion) algorithm [3] to us. We thank Josiah Manson for pointing out that spoke darts oversample the center and we might get a better answer by uniform sampling. We thank Vijay Natarajan for suggesting random chord sampling. The authors are grateful to Brian Adams, Keith Dalbey, and Vicente Romero for useful technical discussions. This work was sponsored by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program at Sandia National Laboratories. This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR), Applied Mathematics Program. Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-mission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC., a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International, Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525.

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Results 1–25 of 66
Results 1–25 of 66