ABSTRACT
Inelastic material behavior is the result of a continuous rearrangement of chemical and physical bonds. The atomic interactions can be described using force fields, which can be deduced from quantum-mechanical considerations or rather ab initio computations or even determined from measurements. Force fields provide an excellent theoretical basis for the application of the finite element method due to the analogy to multi-body systems with atoms as mass points and the different kinds of bonds as spring elements. Force fields provide an excellent theoretical basis for the application of the finite element method due to the analogy to multi-body systems with atoms as mass points and the different kinds of bonds as spring elements. However, one atom is not only connected to one, two, three or four bond partners but can interact with all atoms within a certain range. Unfortunately, van der Waals bonds are long-range interactions so that an enormous number of spring elements must be introduced.
