A review of the scaled boundary finite element framework for fully-automated computational engineering analysis

Advances and adoptions of digital technology and computer simulation in engineering are driving the development of fully-automated methods for engineering analysis. The paper reviews the scaled boundary finite element method (SBFEM) and its salient features as a general-purpose tool for modern computational engineering. Emphasis is placed on its capacity on achieving a fully-automated framework suitable to high-performance computing. In the SBFEM, an element is constructed semi-analytically. The boundary of the element is discretized and the solution in the radial direction is obtained from the solution of ordinary differential equations. The SBFEM formulation can easily satisfy radiation boundary conditions and model stress singularities accurately using its analytical feature. Furthermore, it supports arbitrary polygonal and polyhedral elements. Recent advances have focused on integrating SBFEM with fully automated mesh generation techniques, such as octree and quadtree algorithms, enabling seamless workflows from multiple geometric modeling formats (e.g., digital images, point clouds, and CAD data) to computational analysis. This automation facilitates applications in dynamic response analysis, fracture mechanics, inverse problems, topology optimization, and high-performance computing.