Abstract
Nearly thirty years since its inception, the combined finite-discrete element method (FDEM) has made remarkable strides in becoming a mainstream analysis tool within the field of Computational Mechanics. FDEM was developed to effectively “bridge the gap” between two disparate Computational Mechanics approaches known as the finite and discrete element methods. At Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) researchers developed the Hybrid Optimization Software Suite (HOSS) as a hybrid multi-physics platform, based on FDEM, for the simulation of solid material behavior complemented with the latest technological enhancements for full fluid–solid interaction. In HOSS, several newly developed FDEM algorithms have been implemented that yield more accurate material deformation formulations, inter-particle interaction solvers, and fracture and fragmentation solutions. In addition, an explicit computational fluid dynamics solver and a novel fluid–solid interaction algorithms have been fully integrated (as opposed to coupled) into the HOSS’ solid mechanical solver, allowing for the study of an even wider range of problems. Advancements such as this are leading HOSS to become a tool of choice for multi-physics problems. HOSS has been successfully applied by a myriad of researchers for analysis in rock mechanics, oil and gas industries, engineering application (structural, mechanical and biomedical engineering), mining, blast loading, high velocity impact, as well as seismic and acoustic analysis. This paper intends to summarize the latest development and application efforts for HOSS.
Highlights
The combined finite-discrete element method (FDEM) was first conceived in 1989 by Munjiza while working at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan
Hybrid Optimization Software Suite (HOSS) is an original parallel 2D/3D FDEM simulation platform designed with the main purpose of providing applied scientists or engineers with the ability of utilizing Computational Mechanics procedures for the analysis of complex continuum and/or discontinuum physical systems [39,40,41]
The key advantage of FDEM is the utilization of finite displacements, finite rotations, and finite strain-based deformability combined with suitable constitutive material laws which are merged with discrete element based transient dynamics, contact detection, contact interaction solutions, and objective discrete crack initiation and crack propagation solutions [14]
Summary
The combined finite-discrete element method (FDEM) was first conceived in 1989 by Munjiza while working at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan. A group at the University of Toronto used the Y-FDEM code as a starting point and developed it for commercial applications via a code named Y-geo [28] Their efforts continued as they adopted Y-geo to GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) achieving an initial speed-up of more than 30 times [29]. A custom-developed 2D fluid solver was implemented for hydro-fracture analysis, where the fluid interacts within a contained solid domain and, instead of coupling, the solver was naturally integrated, i.e., the fluid and the solid domains were simulated using the same spatial discretization or mesh [31,32,33] At this point the platform was renamed as the Hybrid Optimization Software Suite, a.k.a. HOSS [34, 35]. It should be noted that the theoretical basis of HOSS has been partially disclosed in numerous papers, three patents, and in three books [14, 37, 38]
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