The material point method in large strain engineering problems

The material point method is a variant of the finite element method formulated in an arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian description of motion. Two kinds of spatial discretization are utilized in the method-the motion of material points, representing subregions of the analysed continuum, is traced against a background of the computational element mesh. The mesh can be chosen arbitrarily so that the main disadvantage of the finite element method, related to mesh distortion, is avoided. Application of the method to some large strain industrial problems as granular flow in a silo as well as geomechanical and plastic forming problems are shown. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.