Concurrent coupling of peridynamics and classical elasticity for elastodynamic problems

In this paper, a coupled peridynamic-finite element method for modeling mechanical behavior and damage growth in materials is developed. Peridynamics is a nonlocal continuum model which, in contrast to other continuum models, uses integration instead of spatial derivations in its governing equations. Utilizing integration instead of derivatives is advantageous in modeling fracture since the governing equations remain valid even after the initiation or growth of discontinuities. Although peridynamics can capture material fracture effectively, however due to its nonlocal formulation peridynamics is computationally expensive. To reduce the computational costs, we propose to couple peridynamics with finite elements and use peridynamics only in small zones where higher accuracy is needed. The main challenge in developing such a coupling method is to eliminate the artifacts introduced by the interface of the two subdomains. One of the main issues is spurious wave reflections which occurs because high frequency waves traveling from peridynamic region cannot enter the finite element zone and spuriously reflect back into the peridynamic zone. This will lead to an increase in the energy of the peridynamic zone and will drastically reduce the computational accuracy. The main feature of the proposed method is eliminating the spurious wave reflections such that the coupled method is as accurate as the pure peridynamics. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.