B. Suárez

Modeling of Ground Excavation with the Particle Finite-Element Method

An excavation process is a nonlinear dynamic problem that includes geometrical, material, and contact nonlinearities. The simulation of ground excavation has to face contact interaction in a changing geometry composed by several solid domains. The particle finite-element method (PFEM) is based on a Lagrangian description for modeling the motion of a continuum medium. The PFEM is particularly suitable for modeling a fluid motion with free surfaces. The application of the PFEM in ground excavation includes the use of the remeshing process, α-shape concepts for detecting the domain boundary, contact mechanics laws, material constitutive models, and surface wear models. Everything is correctly matched to quantify the excavation and the corresponding damage caused to the ground. The erosion and wear parameters of the soil/rock material govern the evolution of the excavation process. The preliminary results presented in this paper show that the PFEM it is a very suitable tool for the simulation of ground excavation processes.

Advances in the Particle Finite Element Method (PFEM) for Solving Coupled Problems in Engineering

We present some developments in the formulation of the Particle Finite Element Method (PFEM) for analysis of complex coupled problems on fluid and solid mechanics in engineering accounting for fluid-structure interaction and coupled thermal effects, material degradation and surface wear. The PFEM uses an updated Lagrangian description to model the motion of nodes (particles) in both the fluid and the structure domains. Nodes are viewed as material points which can freely move and even separate from the main analysis domain representing, for instance, the effect of water drops. A mesh connects the nodes defining the discretized domain where the governing equations are solved, as in the standard FEM. The necessary stabilization for dealing with the incompressibility of the fluid is introduced via the finite calculus (FIC) method. An incremental iterative scheme for the solution of the non linear transient coupled fluid-structure problem is described. The procedure for modelling frictional contact conditions at fluid-solid and solidsolid interfaces via mesh generation are described. A simple algorithm to treat soil erosion in fluid beds is presented. An straight forward extension of the PFEM to model excavation processes and wear of rock cutting tools is described. Examples of application of the PFEM to solve a wide number of coupled problems in engineering such as the effect of large waves on breakwaters and bridges, the large motions of floating and submerged bodies, bed erosion in open channel flows, the wear of rock cutting tools during excavation and tunneling and the melting, dripping and burning of polymers in fire situations are presented.

The Particle Finite Element Method (PFEM). An Effective Numerical Technique for Solving Marine, Naval and Harbour Engineering Problems

We present some developments in the Particle Finite Element Method (PFEM) for the solution of complex coupled problems in marine, naval and harbour engineering involving fluid-soil-structure interaction (FSSI). The PFEM uses an updated Lagrangian description to model the motion of nodes (particles) in a continuum domain containing fluid, soil/rock and structures subdomains. A mesh connects the nodes defining the discretized domain where the governing equations for each of the constituent materials are solved with the FEM. The stabilization for dealing with an incompressibility material is introduced via the finite calculus (FIC) method. An incremental iterative scheme for solving the non linear transient FSSI problem is described. The procedure to model frictional contact conditions and material erosion at fluid-solid and solid-solid interfaces is described. We present examples of application of the PFEM to solve FSSI problems in marine, naval and harbour engineering such as the motion of rocks by water streams, the stability of breakwaters and constructions under sea waves, the sinking of ships and the collision of a ship with ice blocks.