EXTENDED FINITE ELEMENT METHOD FOR TWO-DIMENSIONAL CRACK MODELING

An extended finite element method (X-FEM) for two-dimensional crack modelling is described in this paper. For the crack calculation, a discontinuous function and the asymptotic crack-tip displacement fields are added to the finite element approximation using the concept Partition of Unity (PU). This enables the domain to be modelled by finite elements with no explicit meshing of the crack faces. Computational geometry issues associated with the representation of the crack and the enrichment of the finite element approximation are discussed. The presented Stress Intensity Factors (SIFs) for crack is in a good agreement with benchmark solutions. For calculation of the SIFs, we used the J-Equivalent Domain Integral (J-EDI) method.