Software: PFC

Overview

Distinct Element Modeling for Micromechanical Analysis of geomaterials and particulate systems in two and three dimensions

PFC2D and PFC3D (Particle Flow Code in 2 Dimensions; Particle Flow Code in 3 Dimensions) are discontinuum codes used in analysis, testing, and research in any field where the interaction of many discrete objects exhibiting large-strain and/or fracturing is required.

Because PFC2D and PFC3D are not designed to examine a particular type of problem, their range extends to any analysis that examines the dynamic behavior of a particulate system.

PFC uses an explicit solution scheme that gives stable solutions to unstable processes. It can describe non-linear behavior and localization with accuracy that cannot be matched by typical finite element programs. This makes PFC2D and PFC3D the only commercially available codes of their kind.

The efficient contact detection scheme and the explicit solution method ensure that a wide variety of simulations — from rapid flow to brittle fracture of a stiff solid — are modeled accurately and rapidly. All the equations used in PFC are documented. The user has access (via the powerful built-in program-ming language, FISH) to almost all internal variables. The codes are not “black boxes,” but open software that can be used with confidence.