A CPU parallelized coupling framework for constrained flexible multibody system and granular matter based on contact-graph

Abstract

This paper proposes a coupling model for simulating the interaction between particles and the flexible multibody system. The flexible rods are described using the Absolute Nodal Coordinate Formulation, and various types of contacts, including particle-particle, particle-rod, particle-rigid body contacts, and contacts within multibody objects, are considered. The contact detection is improved by combining space partitioning techniques and the bounding box method. A data structure based on a contact graph is introduced to store the contact relationships efficiently. The discrete element system and multibody system are coupled through serial time integration, with data exchanges at the program level. Numerical examples demonstrate the validity of the proposed model. Moreover, the model is applied to simulate the asteroid soil sampling with flexible brush sampler, showing good agreement with experimental data. The analysis of engineering examples provides insights for sampler design, and show the model's engineering value.