Crack Tip Elements Research Articles

Multi-domain wavelet boundary element method for calculating two-dimensional stress intensity factors

In order to improve the accuracy of stress intensity factors (SIFs) calculated by traditional boundary element methods (BEM), the multi-domain wavelet boundary element method (WBEM) is proposed. Firstly, by adjusting the nodes of the B-spline wavelet element on the interval, crack-tip elements are constructed. Since B-spline wavelet on the interval (BSWI) has excellent compact support characteristics and is particularly suitable for describing solution domains with large gradient changes, the constructed crack-tip can reduce the numerical oscillation effect near the crack tip. Secondly, the crack-tip elements are implemented into WBEM. And the combination of WBEM and multi-domain technology can effectively handle interface cracks. Thirdly, the crack problem solving strategy based on multi-domain WBEM can directly evaluate the SIFs of cracks. Finally, several numerical examples involving homogeneous media and bi-material models are given to verify that the proposed method is simple and highly accurate.

Application of a hierarchical quadrature element method to interface crack analysis in bi-material systems

This paper presents an extension of the hierarchical quadrature element method (HQEM) with p-convergence to evaluating fracture mechanical parameters of bi-material interface cracks. The numerical implementation of HQEM in combination with the virtual crack closure method (VCCM) is comprehensively illustrated, and the formulas for calculating the strain energy release rate (SERR) are rederived. The relationship between components of SERR and the complex stress intensity factors (SIFs) is established. In addition, the effectiveness of an auxiliary parameter related to the dual energy release rates in measuring the accuracy of the present method is examined.The feasibility of applying HQEM to the interface crack problems is demonstrated by investigating the benchmark problem of an infinite bi-material plate with a central interface crack. Two loading cases are considered, including pure tensile loading and mixed tensile-shear loading. The influence of the crack tip element size Δa on the convergence characteristics and computational accuracy of fracture parameters is quantitatively investigated to provide guidance for choosing the most reasonable value of Δa. Numerical results show that even with very coarse meshes, together with a virtual crack extension consisting of only one element, HQEM yields highly accurate results for the total SERR and the complex SIFs, making it suitable for complex, large-scale interface crack problems in dissimilar media.

A new crack-tip element for the logarithmic stress-singularity of Mode-III cracks in spring interfaces

A new crack-tip finite element able to improve the accuracy of Finite Element Method (FEM) solutions for cracks growing along the Winkler-type spring interfaces between linear elastic adherents is proposed. The spring model for interface fracture, sometimes called Linear-Elastic (perfectly) Brittle Interface Model (LEBIM), can be used, e.g., to analyse fracture of adhesive joints with a thin adhesive layer. Recently an analytical expression for the asymptotic elastic solution with logarithmic stress-singularity at the interface crack tip considering spring-like interface behaviour under fracture Mode III was deduced by some of the authors. Based on this asymptotic solution, a special 5-node triangular crack-tip finite element is developed. The generated special singular shape functions reproduce the radial behaviour of the first main term and shadow terms of the asymptotic solution. This special element implemented in a FEM code written in Matlab has successfully passed various patch tests with spring boundary conditions. The new element allows to model cracks in spring interfaces without the need of using excessively refined FEM meshes, which is one of the current disadvantages in the use of LEBIM when stiff spring interfaces are considered. Numerical tests carried out by h-refinement of uniform meshes show that the new singular element consistently provides significantly more accurate results than the standard finite elements, especially for stiff interfaces, which could be relevant for practical applications minimizing computational costs. The new element can also be used to solve other problems with logarithmic stress-singularities.

An efficient computational framework for height-contained growing and intersecting hydraulic fracturing simulation via SGBEM–FEM

An efficient computational framework to model the growth of intersecting height-contained hydraulic fractures is proposed. The fracture in solids is modeled by the classical theory of linear elastic fracture mechanics, whereas the injection flow in hydraulic fractures is treated as channel flow. The governing equations of fracture mechanics are formulated in terms of weakly-singular weak-form boundary integral equations, with the knowledge of the fracture surface geometry exploited to reduce the integral dimension. The fluid flow within the fracture is treated using finite element method as one dimensional flow in an arbitrarily curved channel. The symmetric Galerkin boundary element method and finite element method are coupled with the traction continuity condition. The model is then formulated in a variational form and augmented with Lagrange multipliers to prescribe displacement constraints on intersections of hydraulic fractures, while fluid constraints are enforced by a consolidation of associated pressure degrees of freedom. Pertinent numerical implementation techniques, including spatial and temporal discretizations, special crack tip element, crack propagation criteria and remeshing strategy, are presented. The proposed framework is verified by comparing to the numerical results from a three dimensional hydraulic fracturing simulator and then verified by comparing the stress intensity factors to the XFEM and Murakami’s results for both star shaped cracks and symmetric branched cracks. The verification shows the utility properly enforces the physical constraints on the intersections of fractures. Three numerical examples are shown to demonstrate the capability of the proposed computational framework modeling the intersecting hydraulic fracturing process in a single or separated height-contained pay zones.

A two-dimensional inverse crack tip element for shape sensing and structural health monitoring

inverse Finite Element Method (iFEM) is a powerful tool for shape sensing and structural health monitoring of marine structures and has several advantages with respect to some other existing approaches. However, current iFEM formulation is not suitable for marine structures having pre-existing cracks due to stress singularities at the crack tip. In this study, a two-dimensional inverse crack tip element formulation is presented. The element is suitable for thin structures under in-plane loading conditions. The inverse crack tip element allows determination of Stress Intensity factor values at the crack tip. To validate the accuracy and demonstrate the capability of the inverse crack tip element, six different numerical cases are considered for different geometry, loading and boundary conditions. iFEM analysis results are compared with regular finite element analysis results as the reference solution and very good agreement is observed between the two solutions demonstrating the capability of the current iFEM approach.

ProCrackPlast: a finite element tool to simulate 3D fatigue crack growth under large plastic deformations

Many structural components and devices in combustion and automotive engineering undergo highly intensive cyclic thermal and mechanical loading during their operation, which leads to low cycle (LCF) or thermomechanical (TMF) fatigue crack growth. This behavior is often characterized by large scale plastic deformations and creep around the crack, so that concepts of linear-elastic fracture mechanics fail. The finite element software ProCrackPlast has been developed at TU Bergakademie Freiberg for the automated simulation of fatigue crack growth in arbitrarily loaded three-dimensional components with large scale plastic deformations, in particular under cyclic thermomechanical loading. ProCrackPlast consists of a bundle of Python routines, which manage finite element pre-processing, crack analysis, and post-processing in combination with the commercial software Abaqus . ProCrackPlast is based on a crack growth procedure which adaptively updates the crack size in finite increments. Crack growth is controlled by the cyclic crack tip opening displacement varDelta CTOD, which is considered as the appropriate fracture-mechanical parameter in case of large scale yielding. The three-dimensional varDelta CTOD concept and its effective numerical calculation by means of special crack-tip elements are introduced at first. Next, the program structure, the underlying numerical algorithms and calculation schemes of ProCrackPlast are outlined in detail, which capture the plastic deformation history along with the moving crack. In all simulations, a viscoplastic cyclic material law is used within a large strain setting. The numerical performance of this software is studied for a single edge notch tension (SENT) specimen under isothermal cyclic loading and compared to common finite element techniques for fatigue crack simulation. The capability of this software is featured in two application examples showing crack growth under mixed-mode LCF and TMF in a typical austenite cast steel, Ni-Resist. In combination with a crack growth law identified in terms of varDelta CTOD for a specific material, the tool ProCrackPlast is able to predict the crack evolution in a 3D component for a given thermomechanical loading scenario.

Effect of graphene reinforcement distribution on energy release rate and vibration of thermally pre/post-buckled delaminated composite plates

The nonlinear thermal stability responses of functionally graded graphene-reinforced composite (FG-GRC) laminated plates with single or multiple through-the-width delaminations, are investigated in the article. The possibility of delamination growth is evaluated using the three-dimensional crack tip element (3D-CTE) method, which determines the energy release rate (ERR) at the delamination edge. Furthermore, the influence of delamination configurations and the types of graphene reinforcement distribution patterns, on the free vibration of FG-GRC delaminated plates in thermally pre/post-buckled regimes is evaluated. The von Karman geometrical nonlinearity is adopted in a solution based on the layerwise third-order shear deformation theory (TSDT). The nonlinear equilibrium equations derived by the minimum total potential energy principle are solved using the Ritz method in conjunction with the Newton–Raphson iterative procedure. A three-dimensional finite element model is also developed using ABAQUS to corroborate the accuracy of the theoretical results. Parametric studies reveal that while the FGX graphene distribution pattern improves the bending stiffness of delaminated composite plates more than FGA, the ERR at the near surface delamination edge in FGX pattern is twice as high as that in FGA. This implies that the possibility of delamination propagation in FGX plates can be higher than FGA. Additionally, while the fundamental frequency of the FGX plate with and without delamination exceeds the frequency of other graphene distribution patterns at the reference temperature, its natural frequency is the lowest among all patterns in the post-buckled regime.

A singular crack tip element based on sub-partition and XFEM for modeling crack growth in plates and shells

A singular crack tip element based on sub-partition and XFEM for modeling crack growth in plates and shells

Numerical calculation of [formula omitted] to simulate fatigue crack growth under large scale viscoplastic deformations

Crack propagation under low cycle fatigue and thermomechanical fatigue is characterized by high plastic and creep strains that extend over large regions around the crack, so that concepts of linear-elastic fracture mechanics cannot be applied. In these cases, the cyclic crack tip opening displacement ΔCTOD is a promising loading parameter to quantify crack growth. In this work, suitable definitions and Finite Element techniques are investigated and compared for an accurate calculation of ΔCTOD under cyclic mechanical and/or thermal loading. A viscoplastic temperature dependent material model of Chaboche-type is used along with large strain settings, specified for the austenitic cast iron Ni-resist. Extensive two-dimensional analyses of Single Edge Notch Tension specimens revealed that collapsed special crack tip elements are superior compared with commonly used regular quadrilateral 8-node elements. At the same level of accuracy of ΔCTOD, they require an about ten times coarser mesh and show less sensitivity w.r.t. element size for both stationary and propagating cracks. In order to simulate fatigue crack growth, an efficient, fully automated FE-technique is developed for an incremental crack propagation by successive remeshing, whereby the deformations and internal state variables are mapped from the old mesh onto the new one. Recommendations are made regarding important numerical control parameters like optimal size of crack tip elements, length of crack growth increment in relation to plastic zone size and ΔCTOD value.

Boundary Element Analysis for Mode III Crack Problems of Thin-Walled Structures from Micro- to Nano-Scales

This paper develops a new numerical framework for mode III crack problems of thin-walled structures by integrating multiple advanced techniques in the boundary element literature. The details of special crack-tip elements for displacement and stress are derived. An exponential transformation technique is introduced to accurately calculate the nearly singular integral, which is the key task of the boundary element simulation of thin-walled structures. Three numerical experiments with different types of cracks are provided to verify the performance of the present numerical framework. Numerical results demonstrate that the present scheme is valid for mode III crack problems of thin-walled structures with the thickness-to-length ratio in the microscale, even nanoscale, regime.

Multi-level adaptive mesh refinement technique for phase-field method

In order to solve the contradiction between the calculation efficiency and accuracy of the phase-field method (PFM), a multi-level adaptive mesh refinement technique suitable for PFM was developed and improved. A multi-level mesh refinement method of 2-D quadrilateral elements including three-layer transition elements without hanging nodes is designed, and the automatic refinement crack tip elements is realized by combining the phase field value. The local element coarsening technique is adopted to solve the problem of rapid elements number growth and reduce elements number in the calculation process. Combined with backtracking algorithm and “tree structure” node information storage technique, crack propagation is simulated. Through the benchmark example, the accuracy of the multi-level adaptive mesh refinement technique and the applicability to non-orthogonal mesh are verified, and the efficiency is greatly improved. For more complex crack propagation, the simulation results are also in good agreement with the experimental results. The critical gradient method proposed at last can find the refinement range more accurately and reduce elements number, which shows a great prospect in engineering applications.

A new enrichment scheme for the interfacial crack modeling using the XFEM

A new enrichment scheme is proposed for the interfacial crack modeling in the framework of extended finite element method (XFEM), in which the approximation of displacement in the element including the crack tip is reconstructed by only the Heaviside function and the material interface enrichment function. The proposed enrichment scheme can model not only the discontinuity of displacement across the crack surface but also the discontinuity of displacement gradient across the material interface in the crack tip element with the weight functions. In addition, no blending elements are introduced and it is unnecessary to define the ramp function in the new XFEM formulation. The static and dynamic stress intensity factors (SIFs) of interfacial cracks are analyzed by the new enrichment scheme and the results show that the effect of material interface in the crack tip element plays a significant role in the accuracy of fracture mechanics parameters and the proposed method can predict the deformation more accurately and obtain a more stable dynamic SIFs. The proposed new enrichment scheme can be extended to three dimensional crack modeling in future works.

An interaction integral method coupled with special crack tip elements for evaluation of stress intensity factors

Accurate computation of stress intensity factors (SIFs) for two-dimensional cracks by an interaction integral method combined with special crack tip elements is presented in this paper. SIFs are of great importance to fracture mechanics analysis. Due to special variation of displacement around the crack tip and the singularity and near singularity of integrals in interaction integral method, the results obtained by which are affected by the radius of the closed loop. Thus, a general method for singular integrals and nearly singular integrals is applied in the paper. With the interaction integral method coupled with the proposed special crack tip element, more stable and accurate values of the SIFs can be obtained. Numerical examples have demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed method.

A Precise Time-Domain Expanding Crack-Tip Element for 3D Planar and Axial Dynamic Cracks

Unlike two-dimensional (2D) crack problems of which the analytical symplectic eigensolutions are available, the analytical symplectic solution of three-dimensional (3D) planar and axial dynamic cracks has not been derived yet. We thus propose a trial displacement field for the 3D planar and axial crack problem using the existing solutions of the 2D crack problems and construct a new crack-tip element on that basis. The recently developed precise integration scheme for 3D planar and axial cracks under dynamic loading (Hu, X. F., Chen, W. H., Zhang, P. and Yao, W. A. [2021] “An explicit crack-tip element for stationary dynamic cracks,” Theor. Appl. Fract. Mech. 112, 102886) is further enhanced. A precise time-domain expanding algorithm is employed for the temporal discretization. All the field variables are expanded using a series expansion scheme, and the dynamic problem is then transformed into a series of quasi-static elastic problems. All the sub-elastic problems are related in a recursive manner. Taking advantage of a smart automatic truncating approach, the number of expanding terms can be determined automatically subjected to a prescribed error tolerance. A few numerical examples are investigated to demonstrate the developed method, numerical solutions indicate that the time dependent stress intensity factors (SIFs) can be calculated in a simple way and the present method has higher efficiency than the recently developed time integration scheme while having comparable accuracy.

A new numerical approach in the seismic failure analysis of concrete gravity dams using extended finite element method

In this paper, a new approach has been developed to conduct seismic failure analysis of concrete gravity dams using extended finite element method and evaluated numerical parameters of dam-foundation-reservoir system. Failure analysis of concrete gravity dams are investigated using Extended finite element method (XFEM) combined with time integration by α-method. To perform the failure analysis and dynamic fracture behavior of a cracked dam, dynamic stress intensity factors based on interaction integral with dynamic effects are utilized. The penalty method is used in this study to model the opening and closing of cracks due to seismic loading. In addition, to apply the interaction between dam, foundation and reservoir in finite element model, zero thickness six-nodal contact elements are used in which the system formulated with lagrangian approach.To achieve this goal, several examples are first reviewed to validate the proper performance of a written code, and the results are then compared with those reported in the literature. Then, numerical parameters in seismic failure analysis such as length of crack growth, angle of initial crack, assembling of mass matrix, using high-order elements and penalty parameter discussed. The results show when cracks start to propagate, in the numerically approach, tip elements will switch to elements that fully cut by cracks. This transformation produces shockwaves during failure analysis. Obtained results show by using crack tip element, the analysis is numerically unstable and does not end. Using eight-node elements with four nodes enriched only by the Heaviside jump function and elimination of enrichment functions of the crack tip are reduced the failure analysis costs while good accuracy. In addition, a different crack path created when diagonal and consistent mass matrix used in the failure analysis.

Development of higher-order displacement discontinuity method to simulate fatigue crack growth in brittle materials

The 2D displacement discontinuity method (2D. DDM) is an indirect boundary element technique in which the stresses and displacements are expressed through normal and shear displacement discontinuities. The governing equations of fatigue crack growth are mostly power equations that depend on the stress intensity factor range. Accurate calculation of displacement discontinuity has importance in fatigue analysis of DDM. Therefore, in this study, DDM is extended using cubic variations of displacement discontinuity for ordinary and crack tip elements. This method also uses an appropriate algorithm based on the linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) principle to analyze crack growth under cyclic fatigue loading. This process is accomplished by assuming the homogeneity of brittle material and the small plastic zone of the crack tip compared to the crack dimension. The condition of applying constant and stationary variable amplitude loading was provided. The algorithm is designed based on an iterative process, and the new incremental elements gradually are added to the crack tip until the failure criteria are reached; The size of these elements at each step of growth depends on the crack growth rate in the previous step. Therefore, the fatigue modeling of the structures with multiple cracks and different growth rates is enabled. Virtual crack criteria were employed to improve the accuracy and speed of analysis, which involves crack tips with a slower growth rate. Moreover, the direction of crack propagation is evaluated using the maximum circumferential stress criterion. Examples of simple and multi-fractured structures under constant and variable amplitude load are considered. Comparison of results with literature data shows excellent agreement with high accuracy.

Fracture mechanics analysis of two-dimensional cracked thin structures (from micro- to nano-scales) by an efficient boundary element analysis

In this paper, the boundary element method (BEM) based on the elasticity theory is developed for fracture analysis of cracked thin structures with the relative thickness-to-length ratio in the micro- or nano-scales. A special crack-tip element technique is employed for the direct and accurate calculation of stress intensity factors (SIFs). The nearly singular integrals, which are crucial in applying the BEM for thin-structural problems, are calculated accurately by using a nonlinear coordinate transformation method. The present BEM procedure requires no remeshing procedure regardless of the thickness of thin structure. Promising SIFs results with only a small number of boundary elements can be achieved with the relative thickness of the thin film is as small as 10−9, which is sufficient for modeling most of the thin bodies as used in, for example, smart materials and micro/nano-electro-mechanical systems.

Morphological characteristics of crack branching in asphalt mixtures under compression

Crack branching is a multi-crack propagation problem. Singular crack tip elements are frequently encountered, and defining the multi-crack tips’ enrichment functions is difficult. To overcome these drawbacks, this study used an already developed ordinary state-based peridynamics method to simulate crack branching in AC-13, AC-20, and PAC-13 asphalt mixtures. These asphalt mixtures’ digital images were acquired by an X-ray computed tomography method. Next, the Prony series coefficients of the fine asphalt mixtures were obtained by the dynamic modulus test. After that, the fracture energy of the fine asphalt mixtures was measured by the semi-circular bending test. Finally, the measured asphalt mixture properties were input into the ordinary state-based peridynamics method in order to simulate crack branching in the AC-13, AC-20, and PAC-13 asphalt mixtures. The simulation results indicate that the diagonal crack first emanates in asphalt mixtures. Then, the diagonal crack continues to branch into a wing crack, splitting crack, and branched crack. These four types of cracks can generate eight crack branching categories in asphalt mixtures. The crack branching trajectory was quantified by the fractal dimension, whose value ranged from 1.14 to 1.64. The physical significance of the fractal dimension explains the changes of crack branching paths in the asphalt mixtures.

An oblique circular cylinder element for 3D interfacial cracks in composites

This study further extends a developed symplectic analytical singular element (SASE) library to include three-dimensional (3D) cracks in dissimilar materials. We construct a trial symplectic eigen solution for 3D bimaterial interfacial cracks and use it as the crack tip enrichment to define the interior displacement field of a new singular element. The symplectic approach is applied for the numerical modelling of 3D bimaterial cracks for the first time. In the derivation, a non-standard shape of the 3D crack-tip element, i.e., a cylinder with two oblique ends with arbitrary orientations, is considered to better fit the mesh of curved 3D cracks. It is proven that the proposed 3D element has improved the accuracy and is still convenient to use. The present contribution has provided a new insight for choosing effective and efficient crack tip enrichments of 3D interfacial cracks, and is also an important step forward of the SASE library.

Fracture analysis of ultra-thin coating/substrate structures with interface cracks

This paper presents a fracture analysis of ultra-thin coating/substrate structures with interface cracks. For this purpose, an advanced boundary element method (BEM) is adopted. To correctly describe the oscillatory displacement and stress fields near the interfacial crack-tip, a new set of novel special crack-tip elements are implemented. The complex interfacial stress intensity factors (SIFs) can be directly and accurately computed at the collocation points extremely close to the crack-tip by using the proposed computational strategy based on the novel special crack-tip elements. Furthermore, the troublesome nearly-singular boundary integrals, which are crucial in the application of the BEM for both crack-like and ultra-thin structural problems, are calculated accurately by using a nonlinear coordinate transformation method. It is shown that the advanced BEM based on the novel special crack-tip elements and appropriate technique for evaluating nearly-singular boundary integrals provides an accurate and robust numerical tool for interfacial crack analysis of ultra-thin coating structures. Accurate and reliable BEM results with only a small number of boundary elements can be obtained for a relative coating-to-substrate thickness as small as 10-9, which is important for modeling ultra-thin coating structures as used in smart materials and micro/nano-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS). Several representative numerical examples will be presented and discussed to reveal the effects of the key geometrical and material parameters, the crack configuration and the loading conditions on the interfacial fracture parameters such as energy release rate and complex SIFs