Notes on Numerical Modeling in Geomechanics

This book is an introduction to numerical analysis in geomechanics and is intended for advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate study of the mechanics of porous, jointed rocks and soils. Although familiarity with the concepts of stress, strain and so on is assumed, a review of the fundamentals of solid mechanics including concepts of physical laws, kinematics and material laws is presented in an appendix. Emphasis is on the popular finite element method but brief explanations of the boundary element method, the distinct element method (also known as the discrete element method) and discontinuous deformation analysis are included. Familiarity with a computer programming language such as Fortran, C++ or Python is not required, although programming excerpts in Fortran are presented at the end of some chapters.

This work begins with an intuitive approach to interpolation over a triangular element and thus avoids making the simple complex by not doing energy minimizatio