Investigation of crack propagation within solid structures exposed to dynamic loading and impact using the truss-like discrete element method

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Understanding how fractures and cracks develop in materials is crucial to many disciplines, e.g. aerospace engineering, materials sciences, structural engineering and geophysics. Fast and accurate computer simulation of crack propagation within realistic 3D structures would be a valuable tool to allow engineers to explore the fracture process in greater detail and yield a greater understanding of the factors that lead to the demise of a structure.This research aims to create a new program that utilizes the truss-like Discrete Element Model (DEM) method to investigate this problem further. The program will discretize structures imported from a CAD model into an array of 2D elements that allow the user to create desired loading scenarios. It is a cutting-edge approach that aims to reduce the computational resource required by the conventional Finite Element Analysis (FEA) method. The performance of the program will be compared with an identical FEA model and aim to be validated against an equivalent experiment.