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Particle finite element method implementation for large deformation analysis using Abaqus

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Abstract

In this study, a simple PFEM approach for analyzing large deformation problems in geotechnical practice is implemented in the commercial FEM package Abaqus. The main feature of the proposed Abaqus-PFEM approach lies in its capability to absorb the advantages of the functionality available in Abaqus and integrate them into PFEM with a single Python script, which leads to a considerable reduction in coding work. By utilizing the built-in functions in Abaqus to fulfil the standard incremental FEM analysis, as well as the powerful mesh-to-mesh solution mapping technique, the proposed Abaqus-PFEM approach allows for the large deformation analysis automatically running with a single Python script and requires no intervention from the user. The accuracy of the proposed Abaqus-PFEM approach is firstly validated through a simple elastic cantilever beam bending problem. Then, the performance and robustness of the proposed Abaqus-PFEM approach are further examined by three illustrative numerical examples: penetration of rigid footing, penetration of T-bar and pipeline–soil interaction problem. The numerical results demonstrate that the proposed Abaqus-PFEM approach as a powerful and easily extensible numerical tool is capable of handling large deformation and soil–structure interaction problems in geotechnical engineering, and consequently, it offers an alternative way to tackle such problems.

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Acknowledgements

The research is supported by the National key technologies Research & Development program (Grant No. 2017YFC1502603), the Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (Grant No. 41807223, No. 51908175 and No. 52078507),  the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (No. 2018A030310346), and the Water Conservancy Science and Technology Innovation Project of Guangdong (No. 2020-11).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Mechanics and Materials, Hohai University, Nanjing, 210098, China

    Wei-Hai Yuan & Hao-Cheng Wang

  2. College of Water Conservancy and Civil Engineering, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, China

    Wei Zhang

  3. Institut für Geotechnik, Universität für Bodenkultur, Feistmantelstr 4, 1180, Vienna, Austria

    Wei Zhang

  4. School of Civil Engineering, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China

    Bei-Bing Dai

  5. School of Civil Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, 230009, China

    Kang Liu

  6. College of Water Conservancy and Hydropower, Hohai University, Nanjing, 210098, China

    Yuan Wang

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  1. Wei-Hai Yuan
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Correspondence to Wei Zhang.

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Yuan, WH., Wang, HC., Zhang, W. et al. Particle finite element method implementation for large deformation analysis using Abaqus. Acta Geotech. 16, 2449–2462 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-020-01124-2

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