Shot peening is one of the most effective surface treatments for improving the fatigue strength of machine elements. In this paper, a new finite element-based model to predict the effect of coverage on the surface state is proposed and critically discussed. By this model, the effects of Rayleigh damping, mesh size, and target dimensions on residual stress profile are investigated using a random impingement simulation of shot peening. Moreover, the model enables the realistic simulation of shot peening process with an affordable computational time with respect of present approaches without reducing the number of impacts and analysis accuracy: the computational time was reduced by 25% in comparison with the conventional finite element models using the proposed method. In addition, the required RAM capacity was reduced up to 80% while the calculated residual stresses and the resulting surface roughness are in good agreement with the experimental results.
