Feasibility of piercing-type simulation in FEniCSx

General
1

Dear all,

I would like to ask about the feasibility of simulating a piercing type problem in FEniCSx.

The basic case is a punch moving into a sheet, where at some stage the sheet should locally separate so that the punch can pass through. My question is mainly about the numerical feasibility:

Is this type of problem possible in FEniCSx, considering that what i understand, piercing may require mesh movement, material separation, remeshing or some other treatment of topology change? Would approaches or another method be suitable for a first simplified 2D model? I understand that such a problem involves contact and plasticity modelling. My question is about the additional difficulty related to mesh handling and material separation.

Any suggestions about the most practical starting point would be very helpful. Thanks for all your support.

Regards,
Jack

2

This is a very challenging problem to implement from the ground up with FEniCSx. Not because of limited capability, but rather that FEniCSx is a toolbox for computing approximations of PDEs by various finite element methods.

The model you’re proposing requires significant effort to design, discretise and implement. Given the resources available to you it may be worth scouring the literature to see what can be used already. I’m currently unaware of anyone working on a similar problem as you’ve proposed in the community.

As part of a small list, consider

For solid mechanics

Contact mechanics:

Remeshing:

Hopefully other members have more suggestions.