Sadhana Vol. 29, Part 3, June 2004, pp. 285296.

Printed in India

Application of meshless EFG method in fluid flow problems

I V SINGH
Mechanical Engineering Group, Birla Institute of Technology and Science,
Pilani 333 031, India
e-mail: ivsingh@bits-pilani.ac.in
MS received 7 May 2003; revised 1 December 2003
Abstract. This paper deals with the solution of two-dimensional fluid flow problems using the meshless element-free Galerkin method. The unknown function of
velocity u(x) is approximated by moving least square approximants uh (x). These
approximants are constructed by using a weight function, a monomial basis function and a set of non-constant coefficients. The variational method is used for the
development of discrete equations. The Lagrange multiplier technique has been
used to enforce the essential boundary conditions. A new exponential weight function has been proposed. The results are obtained for a two-dimensional model problem using different EFG weight functions and compared with the results of finite
element and exact methods. The results obtained using proposed weight functions
(exponential) are more promising as compared to those obtained using existing
weight functions (quartic spline and Gaussian).
Keywords. Meshless method; element-free Galerkin method; steady state
analysis; transient analysis; two-dimensional fluid flow.

1. Introduction
The finite element method (FEM) has been established as a very powerful numerical technique
for the analysis of space domain problems having arbitrary shapes. It has been observed that in
the finite element method, mesh generation is a far more time-consuming and expensive task
than the assembly and solution of the finite element equations. Moreover, there are certain
classes of problems for which FEM is difficult, or even impossible to apply. For such problems,
it has become necessary to find the methods, which may be somewhat more expensive from the
viewpoint of computer time but require less time in the preparation of data. Recently, a class
of new methods, known as meshless methods, has been developed. Various meshless methods belonging to this family are: smooth particle hydrodynamics (Monaghan 1988, 1992),
diffuse element method (Nayroles et al 1992), reproducing kernel particle method (Liu et al
1995), the method of finite spheres (De & Bathe 2000), free mesh method (Yagawa & Yamada
1996), local boundary integral equation (LBIE) method (Zhu et al 1998), the partition of unity
A list of symbols is given at the end of the paper

285

286

I V Singh

method (Babuska & Melenk 1997), element-free Galerkin (EFG) method (Belytschko et al
1994a, 1996; Lu et al 1994; Dolbow & Belytschko 1998; Liu & Gu 2000), meshless local
PetrovGalerkin (MLPG) method (Atluri & Zhu 1998), natural element method (Sukumar
et al 1998) and natural neighbour Galerkin method (Sukumar et al 2001).
Among all these meshless methods, the element-free Galerkin method (EFG) method has
been successfully used to solve the problems of plates and shells (Krysl & Belytschko 1996a,
1996b), fracture mechanics and wave propagation (Belytschko et al 1994b; Belytschko &
Tabbara 1996, Lu et al 1995; Sukumar et al 1997), NDT (Xuan et al 2001), electromagnetic
field (Cingoski et al 1998) and heat transfer (Singh et al 2002, 2003a, 2003b).
In this paper, we have used the meshless element-free Galerkin (EFG) method for solving
two-dimensional fluid flow problems and have proposed a new exponential weight function.
In the EFG method, function over the solution domain requires only a set of nodes, and
does not require element connectivity. Integration over the solution domain requires only a
simple integration cell to obtain the solution. Variational technique has been used for the
discretization of the governing equations for two-dimensional fluid flow problems. Lagrange
multiplier method is used to enforce the essential boundary conditions. FORTRAN programs
have been developed for two-dimensional transient and steady state analysis of fluid flow
problems. The results are obtained for a model problem and compared with the results of
exact (Appel et al 1959) and finite element (Reddy 1993) methods.
2. The element-free Galerkin method
The discretization of the governing equations by element-free Galerkin method requires moving least square interpolation functions which are made up of three components: a weight
function associated with each node, a monomial basis function and a set of non-constant coefficients. The weight function is non-zero over a small neighbourhood at a particular node,
called support of the node.
2.1 Moving least square approximation
Using moving least square approximation, the unknown function u(y, z) is approximated by
uh (y, z) over the two-dimensional domain  (Belytschko et al 1994a)
uh (y, z) =

m
X

pj (y, z)aj (y, z) pT (y, z)a(y, z) pT (x)a(x)

(1)

j =1

where,
m = number of terms in the basis,
pj (y, z) = monomial basis function,
aj (y, z) = non-constant coefficients,
xT = [y

z], pT (x) = [1

z].

The coefficients aj (x) are found by minimizing the quadratic functional J (x) given by
(
)2
n
m
X
X
w(x xI )
pj (xI )aj (x) u1 ,
J (x) =
I =1

j =1

(2)

Application of meshless EFG method in fluid flow problems

287

where w(x xI ) is a weight function which is non-zero over a small domain, called domain
of influence. n is the number of nodes in the domain of influence.
The minimization of J (x) w.r.t. a(x) leads to the following set of equations
a(x) = A1 (x)B(x)T,

(3)

where A and B are given as

A=

n
X

w(x xI )p(xI )pT (xI )

I =1

1 y1 z1
1 yn
zn
= w(x x1 ) y1 y12 y1 z1 + . . . w(x xn ) yn yn2 yn zn ,
zn yn zn zn2
z1 y1 z1 z12
B(x) = [w(x x1 )p(x1 ), . . . w(x xn )p(xn )]

1
1
= w(x x1 ) y1 , . . . w(x xn ) yn ,
z1
zn
uT = [u1 , u2 , . . . un ].

(4)

(5)
(6)

By substituting (3) in (1), the MLS approximants can be defined as

uh (x) =

n
X

81 (x)uI = 8(x)u,

(7)

I =1

where the shape function 8I (x) is defined by

8I (x) =

m
X

pj (x)(A1 (x)B(x))j I = pT A1 BI .

(8)

j =0

The derivative of the shape function is given as

8I,x (x) = (pT A1 BI ),x = pT,x A1 BI + pT (A1 ),x BI + pT A1 (BI ),x .

(9)

2.2 Weight function description

The weight function is non-zero over a small neighbourhood of xI , called the domain of
influence of node I . The shape of this domain is arbitrary but in the present analysis rectangular
domain is preferred (Belytschko et al 1994a). The choice of weight function w(xxI ) affects
the resulting approximation uh (xI ). In this paper, a new weight function namely exponential
weight function has been proposed. The different weight functions used in the present analysis
can be written as a function of normalized radius r as the quartic-spline weight function
(Belytschko et al 1996),
)
(
1 6r 2 + 8r 3 3r 4 , 0 r 1
,
(10a)
w(x x1 ) = w(r) =
0
r>1

288

I V Singh

Gaussian weight function (Belytschko et al 1995),



2
e(25r) , 0 r 1
,
w(x x1 ) = w(r) =
0
r>1
the exponential weight function,
w(x x1 ) = w(r) =

1
,
100r

(10b)


0r1
,
r>1

(10c)

where
ky yI k
kz zI k
and (rz )I =
,
dmzI
dmyI
= dmax cyI and dmzI = dmax czI , dmax = scaling parameter,

(ry )I =
dmyI

cyI and czI at node I , are the distances to the nearest neighbours. dmyI and dmzI are chosen
such that the matrix is non-singular everywhere in the domain.
The weight function at any given point can be calculated as
w(x xI ) = w(rY )w(rz ) = wy wz ,

(11a)

where w(ry ) or w(rz ) can be calculated by replacing r by ry or rz in the expression of w(r).

The derivatives of the weight function are obtained as
w,y =

dwy
dwz
wz , w,z =
wy .
dy
dz

(11b)

3. Discretization of the governing equations

The momentum equation for incompressible fluid flowing through the long and uniform duct
is given as
 2

u 2u
dp
u

= .
(12a)
+ 2
2
y
z
dx
t
The Initial conditions are
at t = 0,

u = uini ,

in .

(12b)

The essential boundary conditions are

at the surface S1 ,
at the surface S2 ,
at the surface S3 ,
at the surface S4 ,

u = uS1
u = u S2
u = uS3
u = u S4

= 0,
= 0,
= 0,
= 0.

(12c)

The weak form of (12a) with the boundary conditions is obtained as

Z
Z
Z



w,y u,y + w,z u,z d + wMd wud

= 0.

(13)

Application of meshless EFG method in fluid flow problems

289

The functional 5(u) can be written as

Z
Z
Z

 2
2
u + u,z d + uud

Mud.
5(u) =
2 ,y


(14)

Enforcing essential boundary conditions using Lagrange multipliers, the functional 5 (u) is
obtained as
Z
Z
Z
Z

 2
u,y + u2,z d + uud

uMd + (u uS1 )d0

5 (u) =
2



01
Z
Z
Z
(15)
+ (u uS2 )d0 + (u uS3 )d0 + (u uS4 )d0
02

03

04

Using the variational principle, (15) reduces to

Z
Z
Z
 T


Mud
5 (u) = u,y u,y + u,z u,z d + uud


Z
(u uS1 )d0 +

+
01

ud0 +
01

(u uS3 )d0 +
03

(u uS2 )d0 +
02

ud0 +
03

ud0
02

(u uS4 )d0 +
04

ud0.
04

(16)
Since u and are arbitrary in preceding equation, the following relations are obtained using
(7),
+ [G]{} = {f},
[K]{u} + [C]{u}

(17a)

= {q},
[G ]{u}
where

Z 
KI J =


CI J =


8I,y
8I,z

8TI

T 

0
0

(18a)


0
8J d,
0

(18b)

Z
8I NK d01 +

01

Z
8I NK d02 +

02

fI =



8J,y
d,
8J,z

GI K =

(17b)

Z
8I NK d03 +

03

8I NK d04 ,
04

M8I d,


qK =

(18d)
Z

uS1 NK d01 +
01

(18c)

Z
uS2 NK d02 +

02

Z
uS3 NK d03 +

03

uS4 NK d04 .
04

(18e)

290

I V Singh

Figure 1. Cross-section of twodimensional model for fluid flow

problem.

Using CrankNicolson method for time approximation, (17) can be written as

G un0 Rn0
K +C

=
,
GT
0 q

(19)

where
Rn0 = ([C] (1 )1t[K]){u}n0 1 + 1t{f}n0 + (1 )1t{f}n0 1 ,

K = 1t[K].

(20a)
(20b)

4. Numerical results and discussion

The parameters considered for the transient and steady analysis of the model shown in figure 1
are tabulated in table 1. Table 2 shows a comparison of velocity obtained by EFG method
for different weight functions with that obtained by finite element method at the location
(y = D/4, y = H /4) of the duct cross-section for 121 nodes. A similar comparison of
Table 1. Data for the 2-D transient and steady state fluid flow.
Parameters
Depth (D)
Height (H )
Pressure gradient (P /x)
Density of the fluid ()
Dynamic viscosity ()
All surface velocities (uS )
Initial velocity (uini )
Time step (1t)

Value of parameters
010 m
010 m
40000 (N/m2 /m)
1000 kg/m3
25 Ns/m2
00 m/s
00 m/s
001 s

Application of meshless EFG method in fluid flow problems

291

Table 2. Comparison of transient EFG results with FEM at the

location (y = D/4, z = H /4) of the duct cross-section.
Velocity (m/s)
EFG
Time(s)

Quartic spline

Gaussian

Exponential

FEM

000
010
020
030
040
050
060
070
080
090
100

00000
03256
04895
05859
06442
06795
07009
07139
07217
07265
07294

00000
03235
04855
05805
06375
06719
06925
07050
07125
07170
07197

00000
03257
04896
05861
06444
06797
07012
07141
07220
07268
07297

00000
02994
04702
05711
06332
06718
06958
07107
07200
07258
07293

velocity has also been shown in figure 2 at the centre (y = 0, z = 0) of the duct cross-section
for the same number of nodes.
The steady state analysis has been carried out for a model problem by using different EFG weight functions. Table 3 shows a comparison of the results obtained using EFG
1.2

Velocity (m /s )

0.8

0.6

0.4

FEM
Quartic spline
Gaussian
E x ponential

0.2

0
0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

Time (t), s

Figure 2. Comparison of transient EFG results with FEM at the centre (y = 0, z = 0) of the duct
cross-section.

292

I V Singh
Table 3. Comparison of steady state EFG results for different weight
functions with FEM and exact methods at the centre (y = 0, z = 0) of
the duct cross-section.
Velocity (m/s)
EFG
No. of
nodes

Quartic spline

Gaussian

Exponential

FEM

Exact

25
81
121
441

12338
11916
11869
11808

11753
11776
11780
11786

12358
11920
11872
11808

09839
11619
11696
11764

11802
11802
11802
11802

method with FEM and exact methods. The L2 -error has been calculated for different EFG
weight functions and FEM with exact solution and is given in table 4. The L2 -error has
also been plotted in figure 3 for the calculation of rate of convergence. The rate of convergence for quarticspline, Gaussian, exponential and FEM are obtained as 10521, 09305,
10630 and 13709 respectively. From table 4 and figure 3, it is observed that the convergence of exponential weight function is better than those obtained using quartic spline
and Gaussian weight functions. It can be also be noted that the accuracy in EFG results is
more as compared with FEM results but the convergence of FEM results is better than EFG
results.
Table 5 shows the effect of scaling parameter (dmax ) on EFG results at the location (y =
D/4, z = H /4) of the duct cross-section. A similar comparison of results has also been shown
in figure 4 at the centre (y = 0, z = 0) of the duct cross-section. From these results, it is clear
that the variation in EFG results with scaling parameter for exponential weight function is
less as compared quartic spline and Gaussian weight functions. The scaling parameter (dmax )
gives acceptable results for the range 1 < dmax 15.
It can be noted from the tables and figures that the EFG results are well converged and in
good agreement with the results of finite element and exact methods. From the analysis, it
is also clear that the proposed exponential weight function is more promising as compared
to quatric spline and Gaussian weight functions. For higher accuracy, large number of nodes

Table 4. L2 -error in velocity for different weight functions of EFG and

FEM.
EFG
Elemental
area/cell
area (m2 )

Quartic spline
(x104 )

Gaussian
(x104 )

Exponential
(x104 )

0000625
0000156
0000100
0000025

3077780
656262
382998
106004

3220820
221061
207301
176356

3195243
681253
397280
106089

FEM
(x104 )
21493360
3913477
680464
288473

Application of meshless EFG method in fluid flow problems

293

1.5

L2-error

2.5

3.5

4.5
5

FEM
Quartic spline
Gaussian
Exponential

4.8

4.6

4.4

4.2

3.8

3.6

3.4

3.2

Log (a)

Figure 3. A plot of L2 -error for different weight functions of EFG and FEM.
1.28
Exact
FEM
Quartic spline
Gaussian
Exponential

1.26

Velocity (m/s)

1.24

1.22

1.2

1.18

1.16

1.14
1

1.5
2
Scaling parameter (dmax)

2.5

Figure 4. Effect of scaling parameter (dmax ) on EFG results at the centre (y = 0, z = 0) of the duct
cross-section.

294

I V Singh
Table 5. Effect of scaling parameter (dmax ) on EFG results for different weight functions at the location (y = D/4, z = H /4) of the duct
cross-section.
Velocity (m/s)
EFG
Scaling
parameter

Quartic spline

Gaussian

Exponential

FEM

Exact

101
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

07338
07333
07369
07428
07461
07499
07517
07516
07520
07517
07498

07299
07334
07368
07395
07432
07457
07480
07502
07512
07508
07485

07341
07412
07417
07420
07336
07389
07402
07456
07473
07489
07549

07139
07139
07139
07139
07139
07139
07139
07139
07139
07139
07139

07260
07260
07260
07260
07260
07260
07260
07260
07260
07260
07260

can be easily generated with least effort. This work can be extended for the three-dimensional
analysis of complex fluid flow problems using EFG method.

List of symbols
a
aj (y, z)
dmyI &dmzI
dmax
M
n
n0
pj (y, z)
S
t
uh (y, z)
u,y , u,z
u,yy , u,zz
w(x xI )
NK

8(x)

elemental (cell) area;

non constant coefficients;
size of the domain of influence at I th node in y and z direction;
scaling parameter;
pressure gradient (P /x);
number of nodes in the domain of influence;
number of iterations;
polynomial basis function;
boundary of the domain;
time;
moving least square approximant;
u/y, u/z;
2 u/y 2 , 2 u/z2 ;
weight function;
Lagrange interpolant;
variational parameter;
Lagrangian multiplier;
dynamic viscosity;
domain of the problem;
density of the fluid;
shape function.

Application of meshless EFG method in fluid flow problems

295

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