Interactive, Real Time Structural Simulation

The aim of this thesis is to develop a model that provides a fast analysis of structures subjected to large displacements. This is done by transforming the structure in a set of nite particles and by applying a method called dynamic relaxation to it. The latter simulates a dynamic behaviour of the structure by applying Newton's second law to the set of particles until the equilibrium is reached. This can be accomplished using only explicit methods and it does not require to build a global stiness matrix nor to inverse it. The position and rotations of the elements are followed during the process and their forces are always computed locally by using their linear stiness matrix. This methodology is applied to multiple type of elements and the accuracy and speed of the model is nally tested through various examples.