[Geoqus] Erosion and surface modification with ABAQUS

[Vincent Godard]

Dear abaqus users,

I am a phd student working on the interactions between tectonics and erosion 
in orogens. One of my methods of investigation is 2D numerical modeling of 
the mechanical behaviour of the crust in relation with denudation processes. 
I am currently using the finite element code ADELI developed by Cherry and 
Hassani. 
During my computations with ADELI I am confronted to a significant reduction 
of the size of the elements close to the surface of my model, due to erosion. 
 ADELI can't perform mesh modification during the computation, so it is an 
important limitation to the lenght of the simulation.
To solve this problem I am considering to turn to other finite element 
softwares which can handle re-meshing during simulations, in particular 
ABAQUS (my lab already owns a licence), but before doing so I would like to 
check if ABAQUS is really appropriate for the kind of modelisation I intend 
to develop.
My question concerning ABAQUS is the following: is it possible (and simple) to 
remove or add material, at regular steps of the simulation, and according to 
user-defined laws?
By removing or addition of material I just mean to change arbitrarily the 
position of the nodes that are defining the topographic surface of the 
system.


Thanks in advance for any advice,

Vincent.

-- 
Vincent Godard
Equipe de géodynamique
Laboratoire de Géologie
Ecole Normale Supérieure
24, Rue Lhomond
75231 Paris Cedex 05, France
Tel: +33 1 44 32 22 63  Fax +33 1 44 32 22 00
email: godard at geologie.ens.fr