A simple yet accurate finite element procedure for computing stress intensity factors

✍ Scribed by G. B. Sinclair; D. Mullan

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1982
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 903 KB
• Volume: 18
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0029-5981
• DOI: 10.1002/nme.1620181102

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

A new finite element procedure for calculating stress intensity factors in elastic crack problems is developed. In common with a number of other approaches in the literature, the procedure combines the analytical singular fields present in a problem with a finite element treatment of the residual regular problem. What distinguishes the procedure is the use of path‐independent integrals to balance the analytical and numerical contributions. A set of test problems with exact solutions is analysed and demonstrates that the procedure is readily implemented and can accurately evaluate stress intensity factors with a modest amount of computational effort. The application of two competing methods to the test problems further demonstrates that the new procedure is markedly superior in both its initial accuracy and its rate of convergence. The paper concludes with two additional illustrations of the procedure as applied to the single‐edge crack and the centre crack; these also yield accurate results for little computational effort.