Displacement-controlled crack growth in double cantilever beam specimen: A comparative study of different models

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This paper presents, discusses, and compares different techniques to model fracture initiation and static crack growth in double cantilever beam specimen under displacement-controlled loading. Energy release rate, critical displacement for the onset of crack growth, and critical load were determined by analytical solution, standard, and extended finite element method. The crack growth was also examined, and the advantages of each method were described as well. In addition, the compliance technique was used in the analytical method. In this regard, the crack growth relations were formulated based on four models including simple Euler–Bernoulli model, Euler–Bernoulli on the elastic foundation, simple Timoshenko beam, and the beam on the elastic foundation considering shear effects. Closed-form relations were extracted for the fracture parameters. Afterward, the Abaqus software was utilized to simulate the crack growth by the standard finite element method. Since the extended finite element has the ability to model the discontinuities inside the elements, the problem was also simulated by this method. Cohesive fracture of double cantilever beam specimen was performed using a closed-form solution and using a finite element model. Results of different modeling techniques were determined and compared.