Extending radial point interpolating meshless methods to the elasto-plastic analysis of aluminium alloys

This study performs an elasto-plastic numerical analysis of an aluminium alloy using two efficient meshless methods. The obtained numerical solutions are validated using experimental results due to the lack of a suitable elasto-plastic analytical solution. Thus, an experimental test was performed in order to obtain the force/displacement curve and the corresponding mechanical properties by means of Digital Image Correlation (DIC). In this work, two advanced discretization techniques, the Radial Point Interpolation Meshless Method (RPIM) and Natural Neighbour Radial Point Interpolation Meshless Method (NNRPIM), were extended to elasto-plasticity. In order to assess the performance of the numerical methods, the problem was additionally solved with the Finite Element Method (FEM) formulation in ABAQUS(C). The success of the obtained numerical results validates the experimental solution contributing to accomplish the study objectives. Additionally, meshless methods produce accurate results compared to the experimental solution and FEM, proving that the presented methodology is feasible and robust. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.