APPLICATION OF A PARTICLE-IN-CELL METHOD TO SOLID MECHANICS

An extension to solid mechanics of the FLIP particle-in-cell method is presented. The particle-in-cell method uses two representations of th e continuum, one based on a collection of material points and the othe r based on a computational grid. The material points are followed thro ughout the deformation of a solid and provide a Lagrangian description that is not subject to mesh tangling. This feature permits constituti ve equations with history-dependent variables to be applied at these m aterial points with no requirement for mapping the history parameters from one point to another. A grid, which can be held fixed or adapted as the need arises, is used to determine spatial gradients. Since the grid is used as an updated Lagrangian frame, the nonlinear convection term associated with Eulerian formulations does not appear. With the u se of maps between material points and the grid, the advantages of bot h Eulerian and Lagrangian schemes are utilized, No-slip impact between bodies, inelastic, elastic, or rigid, is handled automatically by the method without re:sorting to a special contact algorithm.