Implementation of a parallel finite-element library: Test case on a non-local continuum damage model

• New finite-element code based on a hybrid object/vector design.
• Parallel implementation showing a close to perfect scalability on integral type localization limiter algorithms.
• Results in agreement with theoretical predictions and comparable to other numerical approaches in terms of energies and fragments’ shapes are obtained with an explicit time-integration scheme and non-local continuum damage.

This paper presents an efficient method to implement a damage law within an explicit time-integration scheme, in an open-source object-oriented finite-element framework. The hybrid object/vector design of the framework and implementation choices are detailed in the special case of non-local continuum damage constitutive laws. The computationally demanding aspect of such constitutive laws requires efficient algorithms, capable of using High Performance Computing (HPC) clusters. The performance of our approach is demonstrated on a numerically and physically challenging 3D dynamic brittle-fragmentation test case. An almost perfect scalability is achieved on parallel computations. The global dynamics and energy terms are in good agreement with classical cohesive models’ predictions.