Patent Document ID: 20110077912
Application ID: 12815112
Patent Flag: 0

Claim One:
1. A method executed in a computer system for using hybrid elements to allow coupling effect between solid elements under finite element method (FEM) and particles under smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH), the method comprising: defining a grid model representing a structure, the grid model including a plurality of FEM solid elements, at least one SPH particle, and at least one layer of hybrid elements in between said FEM solid elements and said at least one SPH particle, the hybrid elements include solid and particle layers; performing a time-marching simulation of the structure under a loading condition using the grid model, the simulation including the coupling effect of exchange of nodal quantities calculated in the solid layer and internal forces calculated in the particle layer; and obtaining the time-marching simulation's results at each solution cycle, wherein the obtained results are saved into a file in a storage device and are graphically displayed to a monitor according to user's instructions.