Investigating propagation path of interface crack by the field-enriched finite element method

Abstract

In this paper, a novel numerical method called field-enriched finite element method is proposed to investigate stress intensity factor, initiation angle and propagation path of interface crack. The features of the field-enriched finite element method are: (1) re-meshing is avoided during the process of crack propagation; (2) the physical position of crack can be located and the influence of crack on the physical field of whole model can be described by enriching the field variables; (3) the fracture criterion can be flexibly embedded in the field-enriched finite element method to predict the initiation angle and propagation path of interface crack. Some numerical examples are used to verify the effectiveness and accuracy of the field-enriched finite element method. The numerical results obtained by the field-enriched finite element method can be consistent with the theoretical solution, experimental observation and other numerical results obtained by traditional finite element method or extended finite element method. Therefore, the field-enriched finite element method can provide a new scheme to deal with the interface crack fracture problems.