Material point method for dynamic analysis of saturated porous media under external contact/impact of solid bodies

Abstract

With the use of the u–p form governing equations of saturated porous media, the coupling material point method (CMPM) is developed to predict the dynamic responses of saturated soil. The contact/impact problem between saturated porous media and solid bodies, like soil–structure interaction, is solved under the framework of the MPM. In the proposed strategy, the dynamic analysis of saturated soil and solid bodies is handled by the CMPM and the original MPM respectively. The interaction between saturated soil and solid bodies is simulated by a new contact algorithm which effectively avoids the interpenetration between saturated soil and solid bodies. The proposed approach circumvents the difficulties associated with the conventional spatial discretization methods such as the finite element method in simulating the contact/impact behavior between saturated soil and solid bodies. Representative examples are used to verify the proposed model-based simulation procedure and to demonstrate its potential in impact analysis related to geotechnical engineering.