MPM Simulation from the point of view of a Student - Short Paper

Abstract

One of the most important branches of computer animation is the physic simulation of the behaviour of objects in a scene. In this field, you usually seek to obtain results that visually behave like real objects, and so it is essential to use the mathematical models that define their behaviour.

In particular, deformable objects are hard and challenging to simulate, since their behaviour is defined by continuum mechanics. In this category we can find fluids, elastic and plastic materials.

The fact that the validation in many cases is visual, allows simplifying such mathematical models to gain calculation speed or to decrease the complexity of what would be an engineering simulation.

In this end-of-degree project we delve into MPM (Material Point Method), which is a hybrid method based on particles and meshes, adaptable and efficient enough to perform a wide spectrum of simulations with multiple materials. With this method, we can incorporate the different types of interactions (elastic, plastic and tear) that simulated objects can experience.

Because this is such a complex topic, even more for the computer science student who has no prior experience in the field, this project aims to be a good introduction to the material simulation field from the point of view of a computer scientist, without assuming previous knowledge of continuum mechanics, numerical methods and simulation techniques, either based on finite element methods (FEM) or on the MPM itself.