Particle finite element method implementation for large deformation analysis using Abaqus

• Published in: Acta geotechnica Vol. 16; no. 8; pp. 2449 - 2462
• Main Authors: Yuan, Wei-Hai, Wang, Hao-Cheng, Zhang, Wei, Dai, Bei-Bing, Liu, Kang, Wang, Yuan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-08-2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Analysis; Cantilever beams; Civil engineering; Complex Fluids and Microfluidics; Deformation; Deformation analysis; Engineering; Finite element analysis; Finite element method; Foundations; Geoengineering; Geotechnical engineering; Geotechnical Engineering & Applied Earth Sciences; Hydraulics; Mathematical analysis; Mechanics; Penetration; Programming languages; Research Paper; Robustness (mathematics); Soft and Granular Matter; Software packages; Software upgrading; Soil; Soil Science & Conservation; Soil-structure interaction; Solid Mechanics; Submarine pipelines; Variables; Abaqus; Particle finite element method (PFEM); Offshore geotechnical engineering; Large deformation; Python
• ISSN: 1861-1125; 1861-1133
• DOI: 10.1007/s11440-020-01124-2

In this study, a simple PFEM approach for analyzing large deformation problems in geotechnical practice is implemented in the commercial FEM package Abaqus. The main feature of the proposed Abaqus-PFEM approach lies in its capability to absorb the advantages of the functionality available in Abaqus and integrate them into PFEM with a single Python script, which leads to a considerable reduction in coding work. By utilizing the built-in functions in Abaqus to fulfil the standard incremental FEM analysis, as well as the powerful mesh-to-mesh solution mapping technique, the proposed Abaqus-PFEM approach allows for the large deformation analysis automatically running with a single Python script and requires no intervention from the user. The accuracy of the proposed Abaqus-PFEM approach is firstly validated through a simple elastic cantilever beam bending problem. Then, the performance and robustness of the proposed Abaqus-PFEM approach are further examined by three illustrative numerical examples: penetration of rigid footing, penetration of T-bar and pipeline–soil interaction problem. The numerical results demonstrate that the proposed Abaqus-PFEM approach as a powerful and easily extensible numerical tool is capable of handling large deformation and soil–structure interaction problems in geotechnical engineering, and consequently, it offers an alternative way to tackle such problems.