No abstract

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation.*Related content and download information correct at time of download. Adaptation in coupled problems Christos Vokas and Manfred KasperInstitute of Micro System Technology, Hamburg University of Technology, Hamburg, Germany Abstract Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to address the formulation, implementation, and adaptation of closely coupled multi-physics problems with h-and p-adaptive finite element methods. A general formulation is chosen allowing for coupled problems of various types. Adaptation algorithms for h-and p-refinement are given. Design/methodology/approach -A generic system of second-order differential equations is used, where the field of each individual problem is represented as an entry in the list of field variables. Specific problems are implemented by mapping material coefficients to the coefficients of the generic form. An example with four natures is investigated with close coupling between electric, mechanical and thermal fields. h-and p-refinement using a single mesh is considered, where the element order may differ for individual fields. Findings -In coupled problems, the error in each single field is affected by approximation properties of all other field quantities. In order to allow for optimal convergence order in the number of degrees of freedom, the error contributions of all fields have to be considered. Separate error estimation in each field is needed especially in h-adaptation on a single mesh. Energy coupling coefficients were introduced to derive an adaptation criterion. Convergence analysis of h-and p-adaptation proves the feasibility of the approach. Originality/value -Piezopyroelectricity considers thermal effects in high-frequency piezoelectric materials, which is a coupled problem of four natures. The paper introduces an adaptation criterion for such complicated coupled problems and proves feasibility.

No abstract

No abstract