A Novel Transitional Element-Based Approach for PD-FEM Coupling: Theoretical Development

Peridynamics (PD) has emerged as a powerful computational method for modelling discontinuities, but its inherent surface effects and computational inefficiencies limit its standalone application.The Finite Element Method (FEM), while effective for boundary conditions, struggles with crack propagation modelling.This paper proposes a novel Transitional Element (TE)-based framework to seamlessly couple PD and FEM, ensuring computational compatibility and efficiency.By introducing a stiffness matrix correction approach, the TE mitigates interface inconsistencies and enhances accuracy.The proposed method preserves the strengths of both PD and FEM while significantly reducing computational cost.This framework lays a solid foundation for future applications in fracture mechanics and material failure analysis.