An assessment of crack tip singularity models for use with isoparametric elements

The use of finite element methods to analyse fracture problems is complicated by the stress field singularity which exists at the crack tip. The two most successful methods of approach would appear to be the so-called energy technique and the singularity function formulation. The necessity for extremely fine meshes in the crack tip region can be overcome by the use of special elements which incorporate the required stress singularity in their formulation. The aim of this paper is to develop various promising singularity function elements and assess their performance in the solution of standard test problems. These elements are based on the eight node parabolic isoparametric element; this being the most popular element in general use. Such crack tip elements may be readily incorporated into a mesh of standard isoparametric elements permitting numerical fracture studies to be undertaken without extensive mesh regeneration or refinement. In particular elements based on the use of distorted shape functions, standard shape functions, analytic solutions, a superposition process and a hybrid technique are considered. Test problems of both single and combined mode fracture are employed in the assessment of each model.It is also demonstrated that the hybrid element is a special case of the boundary integral method, and suggestions are made for possible future development.     

Analysis of temperature distribution near the crack tip under constant amplitude loading

An analytical/numerical method has been developed to find the temperature rise near the crack tip under fatigue loading. The cyclic plastic zone ahead of the crack tip is assumed to be the shape of the source of heat generation and some fraction of plastic work done in cyclic plastic zone as heat generation. Plastic work during fatigue load was found by obtaining stress and strain distribution within the plastic zone by Hutchinson, Rice and Rosengren (HRR) crack tip singularity fields applied to small scale yielding on the cyclic stress strain curve. A two‐dimensional conduction heat transfer equation, in moving co‐ordinates, was used to obtain temperature distribution around the crack tip. Temperature rise was found to be a function of frequency of loading, applied stress intensity factor and thermal properties of the material. A power–law relation was found between the rise in temperature at a fixed point near the crack tip and range of stress intensity factor.     

An integral equation method for dynamic crack growth problems

Within the assumptions of linear elastic fracture mechanics, dynamic stresses generated by a crack growth event are examined for the case of an infinite body in the state of plane strain subjected to mode I loading.The method of analysis developed in this paper is based on an integral equation in one spatial coordinate and in time. The kernel of this equation, i.e., the influence or Green's function, is the response of an elastic half-space to a concentrated unit impulse acting on its edge. The unknown function is the normal stress distribution in the plane of the crack, while the free term represents the effect of external loading.The solution for the stresses is obtained with the assumption that its spatial distribution contains a square root singularity near the tip of the crack, while its intensity is an unknown function of time. Thus, the orginal integral equation in space and time reduces to Volterra's integral equation of the first kind in time. The equation is singular, with the singularity of the kernel being a combined effect of the singularity of the influence function and the singularity of the dynamic stresses at the tip of the crack. Its solution is obtained numerically with the aid of a combination of quadrature and product integration methods. The case of a semi-infinite crack moving with a prescribed velocity is examined in detail.The method can be readily extended to problems involving mode II and mixed mode crack propagation as well as to problems of dynamic external loadings.     

Plane Elastic Problem of a Crack Normal to and Terminating at Bimaterial Interface of Isotropic and Orthotropic Half Plates

In this paper, the displacement and stress fields for a crack normal to and terminating at a bimaterial interface of isotropic and orthotropic half planes are studied as a plane problem. The eigenequation, by which the order of stress singularity is determined, is given in an explicit form. A discriminant function is presented to judge whether the stress singularity at the crack tip is greater than -1/2 or not. An explicit closed form expression is derived for the displacement and stress distribution near the crack tip.     

基于X-SBFEM的裂纹体非网格重剖分耦合模型研究

扩展有限元法利用了非网格重剖分技术,但需要基于裂尖解析解构造复杂的插值基函数,计算精度受网格疏密和插值基函数等因素影响。比例边界有限元法则在求解无限域和裂尖奇异性问题优势明显,两者衔接于有限元法理论内,可建立一种结合二者优势的断裂耦合数值模型。该文从虚功原理出发,利用位移协调与力平衡机制,提出了一种断裂计算的新方法X-SBFEM,达到了扩展有限元模拟裂纹主体、比例边界有限元模拟裂尖的目的。在数值算例中,通过边裂纹和混合型裂纹的应力强度因子计算,并与理论解对比,验证了该方法的准确性和有效性。     

Plane stress near-tip field analysis of steady-state crack growth along a linear-hardening elastic-plastic interface

Summary In this work the asymptotic near-tip stress and velocity fields of a crack propagating steadily and quasi-statically along a ductile interface are presented for plane stress cases. The elastic-plastic materials are characterized by the J₂-flow theory with linear plastic hardening. The solutions are assumed to be of variable-separable form with a power singularity in the radial distance to the crack tip. It is found that two distinct solutions exist with slightly different singularity strengths and very different mixities on the interface ahead of the crack tip. One of the solutions corresponds to a tensile-like mode and the other corresponds to a shear-like mode. An interface will change the near-tip fild of the tensile solution obviously, whereas the shear-like solution maintains its original structure as in homogeneous materials. In cases the elastic bimaterial parameter differs from zero, the two solutions can coalesce at some high strain-hardening. An interface between two high strain-hardening materials only slightly affects the stress and velocity distribution around the tip, whereas the singularity strength deviates from the homogeneous solutions. The strength of the singularity is predominantly determined by the smaller strain-hardening material. Poisson's ratio affects variation of the singularity as a function of strain-hardening slightly if the coalescing point of the variable-separable solution is not approached. Only for the very distinct elastic moduli the near-tip field approaches the rigid interface solution.     

Direct estimation of generalized stress intensity factors using a three‐scale concurrent multigrid X‐FEM

A concurrent multigrid method is devised for the direct estimation of stress intensity factors and higher‐order coefficients of the elastic crack tip asymptotic field. The proposed method bridges three characteristic length scales that can be present in fracture mechanics: the structure, the crack and the singularity at the crack tip. For each of them, a relevant model is proposed. First, a truncated analytical reduced‐order model based on Williams' expansion is used to describe the singularity at the tip. Then, it is coupled with a standard extended finite element (FE) method model which is known to be suitable for the scale of the crack. A multigrid solver finally bridges the scale of the crack to that of the structure for which a standard FE model is often accurate enough. Dedicated coupling algorithms are presented and the effects of their parameters are discussed. The efficiency and accuracy of this new approach are exemplified using three benchmarks. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Torsion of composite cylinder containing crack terminating at bimaterial interface

Considered in this paper is the Saint-Venant's torsion of a cylinder containing a dissimilar circular bar and a slanted crack. The authors gave a warping function that satisfies automatically the interface bonded condition, and reduced the torsional problem to a pair of mixed-type integral equations that could be evaluated numerically. The nature of stress singularity for a slanted crack terminating at the interface is studied, and it is shown that the power of singularity is not –0.5 at the interface tip of a crack. The expressions of singular stress around this tip are derived. For two typical composite cylinders, some numerical results giving mode III stress intensity factors, singular stresses, and torsional rigidities are presented.     

圆盘状Ⅰ型裂纹的非局部理论解

本文采用非局部弹性理论研究了三维圆盘状Ⅰ型裂纹问题。给出了轴对称问题的影响函数，导出了圆盘状Ⅰ型裂纹非局部理论解的对偶积分方程。对具有无界核积分方程的求解问题提出了一种有效的解决方法，使无界核问题转化为有界核问题。给出了圆盘状Ⅰ型裂纹问题裂纹尖端应力场的数值解，结果表明，非局部理论消除了本文三维问题裂纹尖端应力场的奇异性，文中还对裂纹尖端应力场的大小和分布等进行了研究。     

Extended meshfree methods without branch enrichment for cohesive cracks

An extended meshless method for both static and dynamic cohesive cracks is proposed. This new method does not need any crack tip enrichment to guarantee that the crack closes at the tip. All cracked domains of influence are enriched by only the sign function. The domain of influence which includes a crack tip is modified so that the crack tip is always positioned at its edge. The modification is only applied for the discontinuous displacement field and the continuous field is kept unchanged. In addition to the new method, the use of Lagrange multiplier is explored to achieve the same goal. The crack is extended beyond the actual crack tip so that the domains of influence containing the crack tip are completely cut. It is enforced that the crack opening displacement vanishes along the extension of the crack. These methods are successfully applied to several well-known static and dynamic problems.     

A two-dimensional damaged finite element for fracture applications

A novel finite element was developed for fatigue and fracture applications. The new element is two-dimensional with an embedded edge crack. The crack is not physically modeled within the element, but instead, its influence on the local flexibility of the structure is accounted for by the reduction of the element stiffness as a function of the crack length. The components of the stiffness matrix for the cracked element are determined from the Castigliano’s first principle. The element was implemented in the commercial finite element code ABAQUS as a user element (UEL) subroutine. Models using the UEL are shown to produce accurate results when compared with results from traditional models using physical modeling of the crack. The newly developed element is useful for studies focused on the global response of a structure, and does not allow evaluation of the local stress singularity near the crack tip. An advantage of the developed UEL is that the singularity at the crack tip does not need to be captured accurately with a significant number of elements.     

Closed interface crack with singular spring stiffness model

The singularity of the stress field at the tip of a partially closed interface crack is discussed based on a non-uniform spring stiffness model that includes an inverse function of the radial distance from the crack edge. The stress singularity is found to be governed by the coefficient of the inverse function, henceforth referred to as “stiffness intensity” due to its resemblance to the well-known stress intensity factor. Two distinct non-oscillatory singular stress fields, corresponding to Modes I and II deformations, respectively, are found to coexist. An oscillatory singularity may also appear, but only when the two stiffness intensities are close to each other. This means that the oscillatory singularity exists when the normal and tangential interactions between the upper and lower crack faces are close.     

FEM for evaluation of weight functions for SIF, COD and higher-order coefficients with application to a typical wedge splitting specimen

In the evaluation of accurate weight functions for the coefficients of first few terms of the linear elastic crack tip fields and the crack opening displacement (COD) using the finite element method (FEM), singularities at the crack tip and the loading point need to be properly considered. The crack tip singularity can be well captured by a hybrid crack element (HCE), which directly predicts accurate coefficients of first few terms of the linear elastic crack tip fields. A penalty function technique is introduced to handle the point load. With the use of these methods numerical results of a typical wedge splitting (WS) specimen subjected to wedge forces at arbitrary locations on the crack faces are obtained. With the help of appropriate interpolation techniques, these results can be used as weight functions. The range of validity of the so-called Paris equation, which is widely used in the evaluation of the COD from the stress intensity factors (SIFs), is established.     

压电材料渗透型反平面界面裂纹的奇异因子

本文用复变函数解析延展原理,研究了集中载荷作用下的不同压电材料反平面应变 状态的电渗透型界面裂纹的耦合场：对单个裂纹,给出了封闭形式的复函数解和场强度因子。 结果表明,在裂尖处耦合场有（１／２）阶的奇异性。     

Investigation of the scattering of harmonic elastic shear waves by two collinear symmetric cracks using the non-local theory

Summary In this paper, the scattering of harmonic shear waves by two collinear symmetric cracks is studied using the non-local theory. The Fourier transform is applied and a mixed boundary value problem is formulated. Then, a set of triple integral equations is solved using a new method, namely Schmidt's method. This method is simple and convenient for solving this problem. Contrary to the classical elasticity solution, it is found that no stress singularity is present at the crack tip. The non-local dynamic elastic solutions yield a finite hoop stress at the crack tip, thus allowing for a fracture criterion based on the maximum dynamic stress hypothesis. The finite hoop stress at the crack tip depends on the crack length.     

发展基于CB壳单元的扩展有限元模拟三维任意扩展裂纹

该文提出了一种新的基于连续体壳单元的扩展有限元格式,以用于对曲面上任意形状裂纹的扩展问题进行模拟。扩充形函数的构造和应力强度因子的计算都是基于三维实体单元进行,因此可以模拟复杂的三维断裂情况,壳体厚度的变化也可以得到考虑。三维应力强度因子的计算公式被引入到这种方法中。为模拟裂纹扩展,三维最大能量释放率准则被用作裂纹扩展准则。计算结果显示了曲面上的裂纹扩展路径可以与网格无关,并且由于在裂纹尖端的单元设置了具有奇异性的形函数,裂尖应力场被精确捕捉,从而证明了这种方法的优越性。     

线弹性断裂力学问题的扩展自然单元法

为了更加有效地求解线弹性断裂问题,提出了扩展自然单元法。该方法基于单位分解的思想,在自然单元法的位移模式中加入扩展项表征不连续位移场和裂纹尖端奇异场。通过水平集方法确定裂纹面和裂纹尖端区域,并基于虚位移原理推导了平衡方程的离散线性方程。由于自然单元法的形函数满足Kronecker delta函数性质,本质边界条件易于施加。混合模式裂纹的应力强度因子由相互作用能量积分方法计算。数值算例结果表明扩展自然单元法可以方便地求解线弹性断裂力学问题。     

Modeling complex crack problems using the numerical manifold method

In the numerical manifold method, there are two kinds of covers, namely mathematical cover and physical cover. Mathematical covers are independent of the physical domain of the problem, over which weight functions are defined. Physical covers are the intersection of the mathematical covers and the physical domain, over which cover functions with unknowns to be determined are defined. With these two kinds of covers, the method is quite suitable for modeling discontinuous problems. In this paper, complex crack problems such as multiple branched and intersecting cracks are studied to exhibit the advantageous features of the numerical manifold method. Complex displacement discontinuities across crack surfaces are modeled by different cover functions in a natural and straightforward manner. For the crack tip singularity, the asymptotic near tip field is incorporated to the cover function of the singular physical cover. By virtue of the domain form of the interaction integral, the mixed mode stress intensity factors are evaluated for three typical examples. The excellent results show that the numerical manifold method is prominent in modeling the complex crack problems.     

On the singularity of temperature gradient near an inclined crack terminating at bimaterial interface

This paper deals with the singularity of temperature gradient near an inclined crack terminating at a bimaterial interface. The temperature field is solved by considering the continuity of temperature and heat flux at the interface and appropriate thermal boundary conditions on crack surfaces. The singularity of temperature gradient around the crack tip is then studied for the cases for which the temperature on crack surfaces is prescribed or crack surfaces are insulated. It is found that, unlike the oscillatory singularity of the stress field, no oscillatory character near the crack tip is observed for these problems. The dependence of the singularity of temperature gradient on the inclined angle of crack and thermal conductivity ratio of two dissimilar media is also shown.