Crack Analysis in Residual Stress Field by X-FEM

Abstract

The extended finite element method (X-FEM), which can model the domain without explicitly meshing the crack surface, can be used to perform stress analyses for solving fracture mechanics problems efficiently. In the present study, the principle of superposition is used to solve crack problems in conjunction with the X-FEM. In the proposed method, the surface load distributed on the crack surface, which is modeled implicitly by the interpolation functions with enrichment terms, is introduced to X-FEM analysis. Moreover, the energy release rate at the crack front is evaluated by the domain integral method with boundary integral terms for the surface load. The proposed method is verified through numerical analyses of two- and three-dimensional crack problems in linear fracture mechanics.