Improved Velocity Projection for the Material Point Method

The standard velocity projection scheme for the Material Point Method (MPM) and a typical form of the GIMP Method are examined. It is demonstrated that the fidelity of information transfer from a particle representation to the computational grid is strongly dependent on particle density and location. In addition, use of non-uniform grids and even non-uniform particle sizes are shown to introduce error. An enhancement to the projection operation is developed which makes use of already available velocity gradient information. This enhancement facilitates exact projection of linear functions and reduces the dependence of projection accuracy on particle location and density for non-linear functions. The efficacy of this formulation for reducing error is demonstrated in solid mechanics simulations in one and two dimensions.