Aspects of the Particle Finite Element Method applied to contact problems

Abstract

AbstractThe Particle Finite Element Method (PFEM) developed by [1] is designed to allow changes in the outer shape of a body while performing a Finite Element Analysis. This is achieved by repeated remeshing and shape detection of a particle cloud, which represents the body under consideration. The shape detection method creates new surfaces if formerly connected points on the surface move away from each other sufficiently. This method allows to model material separation, e.g. in metal cutting, see [2]. Details on advanced strategies to refine the detected shape are presented. Considering abrasive wear of surfaces, a mechanism‐based approach aims to model such separation of surface particles on a mesoscale. The basis of this approach consists of a contact algorithm that captures the interaction of solid bodies. This contribution presents a contact domain method [3] which is implemented in PFEM. The approach uses the abilities of the shape detection method as a contact search method. Furthermore, strategies for solving large strain boundary value problems using this contact model are discussed. Numerical examples show the abilities of the approach in an exemplary large strain contact problem.