A coupled implicit material point-finite element method for modeling reinforced materials

Purpose This paper aims to introduce a method to couple truss finite elements to the material point method (MPM). It presents modeling reinforced material using MPM and describes how to consider the bond behavior between the reinforcement and the continuum. Design/methodology/approach The embedded approach is used for coupling reinforcement bars with continuum elements. This description is achieved by coupling continuum elements in the background mesh to the reinforcement bars, which are described using truss- finite elements. The coupling is implemented between the truss elements and the continuum elements in the background mesh through bond elements that allow for freely distributed truss elements independent of the continuum element discretization. The bond elements allow for modeling the bond behavior between the reinforcement and the continuum. Findings The paper introduces a novel method to include the reinforcement bars in the MPM applications. The reinforcement bars can be modeled without any constraints with a bond-slip constitutive model being considered. Originality/value As modeling of reinforced materials is required in a wide range of applications, a method to include the reinforcement into the MPM framework is required. The proposed approach allows for modeling reinforced material within MPM applications.