Tetrahedral and hexahedral invertible finite elements

We review an algorithm for the finite element simulation of elastoplastic solids which is capable of robustly and efficiently handling arbitrarily large deformation. In fact, the model remains valid even when large parts of the mesh are inverted. The algorithm is straightforward to implement and can be used with any material constitutive model, and for both volumetric solids and thin shells such as cloth. We also discuss a mechanism for controlling plastic deformation, which allows a deformable object to be guided towards a desired final shape without sacrificing realistic behavior, and an improved method for rigid body collision handling in the context of mixed explicit/implicit time-stepping. Finally, we present a novel extension of our method to arbitrary element types including specific details for hexahedral elements. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.