An alternative approach for quasi‐static large deformation analysis of saturated porous media using meshfree method

Summary An alternative coupled large deformation formulation combined with a meshfree approach is proposed for flow–deformation analysis of saturated porous media. The formulation proposed is based on the Updated Lagrangian (UL) approach, except that the spatial derivatives are defined with respect to the configuration of the medium at the last time step rather than the configuration at the last iteration. In this way, the Cauchy stresses are calculated directly, rendering the second Piola–Kirchhoff stress tensor not necessary for the numerical solution of the equilibrium equations. Moreover, in contrast with the UL approach, the nodal shape function derivatives are calculated once in each time step and stored for use in subsequent iterations, which reduces the computational cost of the algorithm. Stress objectivity is satisfied using the Jaumann stress rate, and the spatial discretisation of the governing equations is achieved using the standard Galerkin method. The equations of equilibrium are satisfied directly, and the nonlinear parts of the system matrix are derived independent of the stresses of the medium resulting in a stable numerical algorithm. Temporal discretisation is effected based on a three‐point approximation technique that avoids spurious ripple effects and has second‐order accuracy. The radial point interpolation method is used to construct the shape functions. The application of the formulation and the significance of large deformation effects on the numerical results are demonstrated through several numerical examples. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.