Patent ID: 11947883
Assignee: BENTLEY SYSTEMS, INCORPORATED
Field: Computer technology (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 6:
7. A method for generating a signed distance field to a surface of a material point cloud for a material point method that is used for geotechnical engineering for simulation of a behavior of a physical material or an object that exhibits deformations, the method comprising
dividing, an application executing on a computing device, at least one element of a mesh into a plurality of sub-elements utilizing a plurality of field nodes, wherein the physical material or the object is discretized by a plurality of material points of the material point cloud and the plurality of material points are contained within the mesh,
wherein the plurality of field nodes include: (1) at least one inside field node that is inside the material point cloud, and (2) at least one outside field node that is outside the material point cloud;

calculating, by the application, a first distance from the at least one outside field node to the surface of the material point cloud based on a first length of a first surface vector in a first normal direction from the at least one outside field node to the surface of the material point cloud, wherein the first length is based on at least a first volume of a first material point of the of the plurality of material point;
calculating, by the application, a second distance from the at least one inside field node to the surface of the material point cloud based on a second length of a second surface vector, wherein the second surface vector is in a second normal direction from a selected outside field node to the surface of the material point cloud, and wherein the second length is based on at least a second volume of a second material point of the material point cloud;
generating, by the application and for the material point method that is used for geotechnical engineering, the signed distance field to the surface of the material point cloud utilizing the calculated first distance and calculated second distance; and
utilize the signed distance field during one or more time steps to simulate, in a simulation environment, the behavior of the physical material or the object that exhibits the deformations.