Extraction of Stress Intensity Factors by Using the P-Version Finite Element Method and Contour Integral Method

Abstract

The stress intensity factors (SIFs) for two-dimensional cracks are extracted using the p-version finite element method (P-FEM) and the contour integral method. Several numerical experiments, e.g., crack initiating from the edge of a circular hole under an unidirectional uniform tension and two equal-length, unequal-length hole–edge cracks, respectively, at a rectangular plate, an inclined centered crack under uniaxial tension at a square plate and a pipeline crack model, are used to demonstrate the accuracy and effectiveness of the approaches. SIFs are presented for the effects of various crack lengths and length–width ratio. Numerical results are analyzed and compared with reference solutions and results obtained by the Voronoi cell finite element method, boundary element method, high-order extended finite element method (high-order XFEM) and commercial finite element software ABAQUS in the available literature. Numerical results are in good agreement with the benchmark problems and show faster convergence rate, higher accuracy and better numerical stability.