Empirical formulation for debris flow impact and energy release

Full understanding the interaction mechanisms between flow-like landslides and the impacted protection structures is an open issue. While several approaches, from experimental to numerical, have been used so far, it is clear that the adequate assessment of the hydromechanical behaviour of the landslide body requires both a multiphase and...

Analytical and numerical models of debris flow impact

A full understanding of the interaction mechanisms among flow-like landslides and impacted protection structures is still an open issue. Although several approaches, from experimental to numerical, have been used so far, a thoroughly assessment of the hydromechanical behaviour of the landslide body is achievable only through a multiphase and...

Implementing dynamic boundary conditions with the material point method

The material point method (MPM) is gaining increasing amounts of attention due to its capacity to solve geotechnical problems involving large-deformations. While some problems require dynamic analysis, simulating the (infinite) continuous domain using typical Dirichlet (fixed) boundary conditions induce spurious reflections causing (1)...

Modelling the Installation of a Cone: Using a 2D-Axisymmetric Material Point Method Model

In this work the installation process of a cone penetrating into a sand system is modelled using a 2D-axisymmetric material point method (MPM) model in order to investigate the installation processes and to predict the plastic radius. One meter of cone penetration is modelled under a surcharge of 50 kPa. The used constitutive model is Mohr...

Extension of B-spline Material Point Method for unstructured triangular grids using Powell–Sabin splines

The Material Point Method (MPM) is a numerical technique that combines a fixed Eulerian background grid and Lagrangian point masses to simulate materials which undergo large deformations. Within the original MPM, discontinuous gradients of the piecewise-linear basis functions lead to the so-called grid-crossing errors when particles cross...

Taylor least squares reconstruction technique for material point methods

The material point method (MPM) is an effective computational tool for simulating problems involving large deformations. However, its direct mapping of the material-point data to the background grid frequently leads to severe inaccuracies. The standard function reconstruction techniques can considerably decrease these errors, but do not...

Moving least squares reconstruction for B-spline Material Point Method

The paper shows a moving least squares reconstruction technique applied to the B-spline Material Point Method (B-spline MPM). It has been shown previously that B-spline MPM can reduce grid-crossing errors inherent in the original Material Point Method. However, in the large deformation regime where the gridcrossing occurs more frequently, the...

Comparison between Material Point Method and meshfree schemes derived from optimal transportation theory

Both the Material Point Method (MPM) and meshfree schemes based on optimal transport theory have been developed for efficient and robust integration of the weak form equations originating from computational mechanics. Although the methods are derived in a different fashion, their algorithms share many similarities. In this paper, we outline the...

Implementation of non-trivial boundary conditions in MPM for geotechnical applications

This paper describes current work on the implementation of non-trivial boundary conditions (BCs) for improving the general applicability of the Material Point Method (MPM) to geotechnical boundary values problems. It summarises novel boundary treatments (non-trivial BCs) in MPM for (i) flow conditions, as well as (ii) the application of a...

Development and Preliminary Evaluation of the Main Features of the Particle Finite Element Method (PFEM) for Solid Mechanics

The Particle Finite Element Method is a numerical tool that has been introduced more than a decade ago for the solution of engineering problems involving large deformations. <br/>The method falls under the category of mesh-based particle methods, meaning that all information is stored on moving particles that represent the domain under analysis...

Towards a Material Point Method with Powell-Sabin spline basis functions: MPM with higher-order C1-continuous basis functions on triangulations

The material point method (MPM) is a numerical method for simulating ground deformations, that combinesthe benefits of a fixed grid with movingmaterial points, which carry the history dependent information of thecontinuum. During each time step, this information is projected to the grid, on which the equations of motionare solved and a...

The use of MPM to estimate the behaviour of rigid structures during landslides

In geotechnical engineering, proper design of retaining structures is of great importance, since failure of these structures can lead to catastrophic consequences. Nowadays, the finite element method is seen as a reliable numerical technique to analyze soil behaviour and is widely used to assess the interaction be-tween soil and rigid structures...

Wind Turbines near Flood Defences: Study on the impact craters of falling nacelles hitting a dike

Building wind turbines near flood defences has numerous advantages over other locations on land. The water authorities, which own the land of the flood defence, will only permit the turbines if the flood protection assessment satisfies the safety standard after the wind turbines have been constructed. There are three types of failure of a wind...

Development and implementation of moving boundary conditions in the Material Point Method

A new technique is developed in this thesis, which applies boundary conditions to moving boundaries in the Material Point Method (MPM). While MPM has been proven to be useful in slope stability, foundation and seabed ploughing modelling, the application of boundary conditions is still a challenge,<br/>because the location of the boundary is...

On the practical use of the Material Point Method for offshore geotechnical applications

The Material Point Method (MPM) has been developed as a special finite element-based method for large deformation analysis, material flow and contact problems. When it comes to applications in soil, MPM can provide solutions where conventional FEM faces its limitations. Examples of geotechnical applications include landslides, silo filling and...

Contact modelling in the Material Point Method

In recent years, the Material Point Method has emerged as a promising alternative to the Finite Element Method for solving problems involving localised deformations, large displacements or rotations, fracture, contact/impact problems and others. FEMhas been a staple of engineering disciplines both in academia and industry for decades, however...

Comparison of press-replace method and material point method for analysis of jacked piles

In this study, installation of jacked piles in sand is simulated using Press-Replace Method (PRM) and Material Point Method (MPM) and the results are compared together. This comparison is important because a realistic and yet efficient simulation of installation of jacked piles is an appealing step towards the design and analysis of this type of...

Numerical stability for velocity-based 2-phase formulation for geotechnical dynamic analysis

In the field of geotechnical engineering, the study of numerous processes such as pile installation requires to model large deformation of soil. Soil is an assembly of solid particles whose pore volume is filled with water or air. Its deformation mainly depends on the highly non-linear stress-strain behaviour of the soil skeleton. In case of the...