Dynamics of Pseudo-Rigid Bodies

>Research in the dynamics of coarsely deformable continua, such as pseudo-rigid bodies and Cosserat points, is driven by the need to develop inexpensive, yet sufficiently accurate models of the long-term dynamics of particulates and other discrete systems, especially in the presence of boundary interactions, such as contact. This type of analysis is particularly relevant for systems in which rigid-body modeling is insufficient to capture the overall dynamic behavior, while full continuum modeling is computationally intractable. Representative applications include the flow of rocks, sands, and aggregates, the dynamics of traffic accidents involving platoons of vehicles, etc..

The following animation depicts the impact between two non-linearly elastic pseudo-rigid bodies which, in their reference configuration, have the shape of identical superellipsoids:

Related Publications:

E. Kanso and P. Papadopoulos. ``Dynamics of Pseudo-rigid Ball Impact on Rigid Foundation'', Int. J. Nonl. Mech., 39, pp. 299-309, (2004).

P. Papadopoulos. ``On a Class of Higher-order Pseudo-rigid Bodies'', Math. Mech. Sol., 6, pp. 631-640, (2001).

J.M. Solberg and P. Papadopoulos. ``Impact of an Elastic Pseudo-rigid Body on a Rigid Foundation'', Int. J. Engrg. Sci., 38, pp. 589-603, (2000).

P.C. Varadi, G.-J. Lo, O.M. O'Reilly and P. Papadopoulos. ``A Novel Approach to Vehicle Dynamics using the Theory of a Cosserat Point and its Application to Collision Analyses of Platooning Vehicles'', Veh. Sys. Dyn., 32, pp. 85-108, (1999).

J.M. Solberg and P. Papadopoulos. ``A Simple Finite Element-based Framework for the Analysis of Elastic Pseudo-rigid Bodies'', Int. J. Num. Meth. Engrg., 45, pp. 1297-1314, (1999).