Numerical study of quasi-static crack growth problems based on extended finite element method

Abstract

The extended finite element method (XFEM) is a numerical method for modeling discontinuities within a classical finite element framework. Based on the algorithm of XFEM, the major factors such as integral domain factor and mesh density which all influence the calculation accuracy of stress intensity factor (SIF) are discussed, and the proper parameters to calculate the SIF are given. The results from the case analysis demonstrate that the crack path is the most sensitive to the crack growth increment size, and the crack path is not mesh-sensitive. A reanalysis method for the XFEM has been introduced. The example presented shows that there is a significantly reduced computational cost for each iteration of crack growth achieved by using the reanalysis method and the reanalysis approach has increasing benefits as the mesh density increases or the value of crack growth increments size decreases.