Material Point Simulation Method for Concrete Medium Fracture and Fragmentation under Blast Loading

Abstract

The nature of the fracture and fragmentation processes in concrete medium under blast loading is the transformation of the medium from continuum to discontinuity. Coupled with the significant rate correlation of concrete medium, its mechanical behavior presents a high degree of complexity. When tackling this problem, the finite element method (FEM) frequently encounters problems such as grid distortion and even negative volume, whereas the material point method (MPM) can efficiently avoid these problems. Furthermore, the original Holmquist-Johnson-Cook (HJC) model does not take the segmented characteristics of the calculation function for the dynamic increasing factor into consideration. As a result, in this article, first, the calculation function for the dynamic increasing factor in the HJC model was modified by the Split-Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) experiment, and an improved HJC model was proposed; second, an MPM simulation program was developed, and the improved HJC concrete model was embedded into the simulation program; and finally, the simulation program was verified by numerical examples, and the results show that the developed simulation program can better simulate the fracture and fragmentation process of the concrete medium under blast loading, especially the pulverization characteristics of the medium in the near zone of the load.

Assessment of Contact Laws Accounting for Softening in 3D Rigid Concrete Particle Models

“…Meshless-based particle models based on a continuum framework, such as smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) [19] or the material point method [20] have been proposed for concrete fracture. Still, the heterogeneous internal structure of concrete, which is composed of aggregates of different sizes embedded in a cement matrix with different phases and pores, favours the adoption of discrete-based particle models.…”