Dynamic simulation of damage-fracture transition in smoothed particles hydrodynamics shells

SUMMARY This paper presents a meshless method for the modeling of shell‐type structures in fast dynamics. The model is based on the Mindlin–Reissner theory and takes into account material and geometric nonlinearities. The phenomena that occur prior to rupture are dealt with using damage laws, while the rupture itself is represented through the introduction of sharp discontinuities. The method does not represent cracks explicitly, which makes the treatment of multicracking easier. The time discretization is carried out in the framework of explicit dynamics, and the spatial discretization is handled through the smoothed particles hydrodynamics method and the use of moving least square functions. The capabilities of the method are demonstrated using cracking, puncturing and fragmentation examples. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.