Parallel solution of volume‐coupled multi‐field problems using an Abaqus‐PANDAS software interface

Abstract

AbstractNumerical simulations have proven to be a powerful tool in several engineering disciplines, such as mechanical, civil and biomechanical engineering, and are thus widely used. However, the reliability of the simulations strongly relies on the governing material model. These models are usually developed in academic or industrial research projects and are implemented into dedicated software packages to proof their concepts. A transfer of these models from the research into a production‐related environment is often time consuming and prone to failures, and therefore a costly task.The present work introduces a general interface between the research code PANDAS, which is a dedicated multi‐field finite‐element solver based on a monolithic solution strategy, and the commercial finite‐element package Abaqus. The coupling is based on the user‐defined element subroutine (UEL) of Abaqus. This procedure, on the one hand, allows for a straight‐forward embedding of the PANDAS material models into Abaqus. On the other hand, it provides, in comparison to the native UEL subroutine of Abaqus, a user‐friendly programming environment for user‐defined material models with an extended number of degrees of freedom. Furthermore, the coupling also supports the parallel‐analysis capabilities for large‐scale problems on high‐performance computing clusters.The Abaqus‐PANDAS linkage can be applied to various coupled multi‐field problems. However, the present contribution addresses, in particular, volume‐coupled multi‐field problems as they arise when proceeding from the Theory of Porous Media (TPM) as a modelling framework. For instance, it can be used to model partially or fully saturated soils, or chemically or electro‐chemically driven swelling phenomena as they appear, for example, within hydrogels. Additionally, discontinuities, such as cracks, can be described for instance via phase‐field models or by the extended finite‐element method (XFEM). (© 2015 Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)