Discontinuous enrichment in finite elements with a partition of unity method

✍ Scribed by John Dolbow; Nicolas Moës; Ted Belytschko

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 938 KB
• Volume: 36
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0168-874X
• DOI: 10.1016/s0168-874x(00)00035-4

✦ Synopsis

A technique is presented to model arbitrary discontinuities in the "nite element framework by locally enriching a displacement-based approximation through a partition of unity method. This technique allows discontinuities to be represented independently of element boundaries. The method is applied to fracture mechanics, in which crack discontinuities are represented using both a jump function and the asymptotic near-tip "elds. As speci"c examples, we consider cracks and crack growth in two-dimensional elasticity and Mindlin}Reissner plates. A domain form of the J-integral is also derived to extract the moment intensity factors. The accuracy and utility of the method is also discussed.