Assessment of different Material Point Methods with small and large strain constitutive models

With increasing computational power, more and more studies currently focus on extremely large deformation in geotechnical engineering problems. The continuum-based approaches, such as the Material Point Method (MPM), are more computationally efficient than models of particles, such as the Discrete Element Method (DEM), for large deformation problems. It has been found that constitutive models based on the small strain theory are more commonly used in current research for large deformations. In these studies, objective Jaumann rates are typically used, for which the constitutive models still follow a small strain framework. Therefore, a comprehensive assessment of small strain (including Jaumann rate) and large strain formulations in conjunction with different MPMs (i.e. explicit, implicit, original and improved MPMs) is conducted in this research. Some typical large deformation geotechnical problems, such as the granular column collapse and strip footing problems, will be studied and assessed. The research outcomes will guide future researchers in choosing the appropriate constitutive frameworks (i.e. small or large strain) and the type of MPMs for their own studies