AUTOMATIC CONVERSION OF DISTORTED HEXAHEDRAL ELEMENTS INTO MESHLESS PARTICLES DURING DYNAMIC DEFORMATION

This article presents an algorithm to automatically convert distorted hexahedral elements into meshless particles during dynamic deformation. With this approach the initial mesh is composed only of elements, and the particles are generated only as needed when the elements become highly distorted. This allows the mildly distorted regions of the problem to be accurately and efficiently represented with finite elements, and the highly distorted regions to be robustly represented with meshless particles. This algorithm is an extension of a previous algorithm that converts distorted tetrahedral elements into particles. The algorithm for hexahedral elements is more complex because the faces of these elements are not planar, as they are for tetrahedral elements. Examples of high-velocity impact are included to demonstrate the capabilities of this algorithm.