Computations of SIFs for Non-Symmetric V-Notched Plates by the FFEM

Abstract

The present paper further develops The Fractal-like Finite Element Method (FFEM) to compute the stress intensity factors (SIFs) for non-symmetrical configurations of sharp V-notched plates. The use of global interpolation functions (GIFs) in the FFEM significantly reduces the number of unknown variables (nodal displacements) in a singular region surrounding a singular point to a small set of generalised coordinates. The same exact analytical solutions of the notch tip asymptotic field derived for a symmetrical notch case can be used as GIFs when the notch is non-symmetrical. However, appropriate local coordinate transformation in the singular region is required to obtain the correct global stiffness matrix. Neither post-processing technique to extract SIFs nor special singular elements to model the singular region are required. Any conventional finite elements can be used to model the singular region. The SIFs are directly computed because of the use of exact analytical solutions as GIFs whose coefficients (generalised coordinates) are the unknowns in the singular region. To demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the FFEM to compute the SIFs and model the singularity at a notch tip of non-symmetrical configurations of notched plates, various numerical examples are presented and results are validated via available published data.