A 2-level and Mixed Domain Decomposition Approach for Structural Analysis

When using domain decomposition methods without overlapping, one can focus on displacements, such as primal approaches, [11] . . . , or on efforts, such as dual approaches, [6]. Since the latin approach used herein allows interfaces to play a major role, both displacements and efforts are the unknowns; it is a “mixed” approach. A general drawback with domain decomposition methods is the decrease in convergence as increases the number of substructures. Using a global mechanism to propagate information among all substructures can eliminate this drawback. We are proposing herein to take into account the introduction of two scales when decomposing the structure into substructures and interfaces. As a first step, the implemented version is concerned with linear elasticity. The large scale problem is then used to build a global exchange of information and therefore to improve performance. Moreover, comparisons with other decomposition methods, and in particular with several variants of the feti method, are proposed.