A nonlocal general particle dynamics method for modeling soil-structure interaction

Modeling the failure of structures induced by the movement of soils has consistently been one of the challenges that computational mechanics aims to address. In this study, an innovative nonlocal general particle dynamic method is established for soil-structure interaction problems. The pivotal advantage of the proposed method is its capability to achieve a comprehensive simulation from soil sliding to structural collapse. The treatments of the interaction force of particles near the soil-structure interface are introduced in detail in this paper. A particle shifting technology, which uses the condition number of the shape tensor to identify free surface particles, is proposed to improve the numerical stability. To enhance computational efficiency and accuracy, different particle spacings and time steps are employed to simulate soil and solid structures. A staggered solution scheme is developed to solve the movements of soil and solid. The framework proposed in this paper is verified by several benchmark examples, including a free oscillating cantilever beam and a soil column on an elastic plate. Then, the proposed method is further applied to investigate the fracture behavior of a structure subjected to the soil impact. The numerical results demonstrate that the proposed method has favorable convergence and the ability to simulate soil-structure interaction problems.