A degenerate solid element for linear fracture analysis of plate bending and general shells

A general curved element of arbitrary shape for both thick and thin shells is proposed for the linear fracture analysis of a through crack in a shell or a plate. The element is derived from a degenerate 20-noded solid isoparametric element using reduced integration technique. The 1/√(r) singularity of the strains is obtained by the same procedure proposed earlier for two- and three-dimensional problems,^1,2 viz. by placing the mid-side nodes near the crack at the quarter points. Several illustrated examples ranging from classical solutions to practical problems are given to assess the accuracy of solution attainable.