Modelling Contact and Collapse Behavior of Neighboring Trusses with VESEN

Modelling Contact and Collapse Behavior of Neighboring Trusses with VESEN

Modern structures often face uncertain external environments caused by severe natural disasters and man-made impacts. The subsequent member failure and collapse of neighboring structures is difficult to illustrate using continuum-based numerical methods. For modelling such a complex structural system, this study proposes a coupled continuous-discontinuous method by integrating two explicit-form numerical methods, the Vector Form Intrinsic Finite Element method and the Discrete Element Method. To achieve the proposed simulation, an object-oriented software platform, named VESEN(Versatile Engineering Simulation ENvironment), designed by the National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering under the National Applied Research Laboratories in Taiwan, is used. Object-oriented programming technology and design patterns in software engineering are used to facilitate the usability and extensibility of VESEN software for adapting to future changes in requirements. Simulation results are presented for an example of a two-truss collapse system.