Structure Preserving and Scalable Simulation of Colliding Systems

Predictive computational tools to study granular materials are important in fields ranging from the geosciences and civil engineering to computer graphics. The simulation of granular materials, however, presents many challenges. The behavior of a granular medium is fundamentally multi-scale, with pair-wise interactions between discrete granules able to influence the continuum-scale evolution of a bulk material. Computational techniques for studying granular materials must therefore contend with this multi-scale nature. This research first addresses both the question of how to accurately model interactions between grains and the question of how to achieve multi-scale simulations of granular materials. We propose a novel rigid body contact model and a time integration technique that, for the first time, are able to simultaneously capture five key features of rigid body impact. We further validate this new model and time integration method by reproducing computationally challenging phenomena from granular physics. We next propose a technique to couple discrete and continuum models of granular materials to one another. This hybrid model reveals a family of possible discretizations suitable for simulation. We derive an explicit integration technique from this framework that is able to capture phenomena previously reserved for discrete treatments, including frictional jamming, while treating bulk regions of the material with a continuum model. To effectively handle the large plastic deformations inherent in the evolution of a granular medium, we further propose a method to dynamically update which regions are treated with a discrete model and which regions are treated with a continuum model. We demonstrate that hybrid simulations of a dynamically evolving granular material are possible and practical, and lay the foundation for further algorithmic development in this space. Finally, as the the tools used in computational science and engineering become progressively more complex, the ability to effectively train students in the field becomes increasingly important. We address the question of how to train students from a computer science background in numerical computation techniques by proposing a new system to automatically vet and identify problems in numerical simulations. This system has been deployed at the undergraduate and graduate level in a course on physical simulation at Columbia University, and has increased both student retention and student satisfaction with the course

Impulse-based discrete element modelling of rock impact and fragmentation, with applications to block cave mining

Impulse-based methods efficiently and accurately model high-frequency collisions of complex shapes based on the enforcement of non-penetrating constraints. It does not rely on penalty parameters nor requires the computation of penetration between bodies. This work presents a novel necessary condition for energy conservation in impulse-based methods. In previous versions of the impulse methods, such as sequential and simultaneous impulse methods, the relative velocity at the contact points after collision is directly derived from the relative velocity before collision, in a purely simultaneous or sequential manner. This work presents a novel energy tracking method (ETM), in which the relative velocities are iteratively but gradually adjusted, simultaneously modelling their interaction at each iteration. ETM ensures the energy conservation while capturing the propagation of forces during collision. The ETM is applied to model the dynamics of fragment collision in the context of fragmentation. Two approaches of fragmentation are proposed: a finite-discrete element approach, and a low cost, fragmentation pattern-based approach. The first approach models the growth of fractures using the finite element method (FEM) and advanced re-meshing technology. This finite-discrete element approach suffers from the drawback of massive computational cost. The low-cost, fragmentation pattern-based approach separate colliding bodies directly. The fragmentation pattern is generated using Weibull distribution equations, the patterns and size distributions computed using full finite/discrete element simulations and experimental results. This work investigates the influence of fragmentation on the frequency of hang-up events and on the gravity flow of rock fragments within a block caving system. Numerical results indicate that models that do not consider fragmentation tend to overestimate the frequency of hang-up accidents.Open Acces

A numerical method for fluid-structure interactions of slender rods in turbulent flow

This thesis presents a numerical method for the simulation of fluid-structure interaction (FSI) problems on high-performance computers. The proposed method is specifically tailored to interactions between Newtonian fluids and a large number of slender viscoelastic structures, the latter being modeled as Cosserat rods. From a numerical point of view, such kind of FSI requires special techniques to reach numerical stability. When using a partitioned fluid-structure coupling approach this is usually achieved by an iterative procedure, which drastically increases the computational effort. In the present work, an alternative coupling approach is developed based on an immersed boundary method (IBM). It is unconditionally stable and exempt from any global iteration between the fluid part and the structure part. The proposed FSI solver is employed to simulate the flow over a dense layer of vegetation elements, usually designated as canopy flow. The abstracted canopy model used in the simulation consists of 800 strip-shaped blades, which is the largest canopy-resolving simulation of this type done so far. To gain a deeper understanding of the physics of aquatic canopy flows the simulation data obtained are analyzed, e.g., concerning the existence and shape of coherent structures

On state and inertial parameter estimation of free-falling planar rigid bodies subject to unsche dule d frictional impacts

This paper addresses the problem of simultaneous state estimation and inertial and frictional parameter identification for planar rigid-bodies subject to unscheduled frictional impacts. The aim is to evaluate to what level of accuracy, given noisy captured poses of an object free-falling under gravity and impacting the surrounding environment, it is conceivable to reconstruct its states, the sequence of normal and tangential impulses and, concurrently, estimate its inertial properties along with Coulomb’s coefficient of friction at contacts. To this aim we set up a constrained nonlinear optimization problem, where the unscheduled impacts are handled via a complementarity formulation. To assess the validity of the proposed approach we test the identification results both (i) with respect to ground truth values produced with a simulator, and (ii) with respect to real experimental data. In both cases, we are able to provide accurate/realistic estimates of the inertia-to-mass ratio and friction coefficient along with a satisfactory reconstruction of systems states and contact impulses

Robust, Efficient, and Accurate Contact Algorithms

Robust, efficient, and accurate contact response remains a challenging problem in the simulation of deformable materials. Contact models should robustly handle contact between geometry by preventing interpenetrations. This should be accomplished while respecting natural laws in order to maintain physical correctness. We simultaneously desire to achieve these criteria as efficiently as possible to minimize simulation runtimes. Many methods exist that partially achieve these properties, but none yet fully attain all three. This thesis investigates existing methodologies with respect to these attributes, and proposes a novel algorithm for the simulation of deformable materials that demonstrate them all. This new method is analyzed and optimized, paving the way for future work in this simplified but powerful manner of simulation