Analysis-guided improvements of the material point method

The Material Point Method (MPM) has shown itself to be a powerful tool in the simulation of large deformation problems, especially those involving complex geometries and contact where typical finite element type methods frequently fail. While these large complex problems lead to some impressive simulations and solutions, there has been a lack of basic analysis characterizing the errors present in the method, even on the simplest of problems. However, like most methods which employ mixed Lagrangian (particle) and Eulerian strategies, analysis of the method is not straightforward. The lack of an analysis framework for MPM, as is found in finite element methods, makes it challenging to explain anomalies found in its employment and makes it difficult to propose methodology improvements with predictable outcomes.;In this dissertation, we provide a formal analysis of the errors in MPM and use this analysis to direct proposed improvements. In particular, we will focus on how the lack of regularity in the grid functions used for representing the solution can hamper both spatial and temporal convergence of the method. We will show how the use of smoother basis functions, such as B-splines, can improve the accuracy of the method. An in-depth analysis of the current time stepping methods will help to explain behavior currently demonstrated numerically in the literature and will allow users of the method to understand the balance of spatial and temporal errors in MPM. Lastly, extrapolation techniques will be proposed to improve quadrature errors in the method.