Cracking Elements Method for Simulating Complex Crack Growth

authored by: Zizheng Sun, Xiaoying Zhuang, Yiming Zhang
Abstract: The cracking elements method (CEM) is a novel numerical approach for simulating fracture of quasibrittle materials. This method is built in the framework of conventional finite element method (FEM) based on standard Galerkin approximation, which models the cracks with disconnected cracking segments. The orientation of propagating cracks is determined by local criteria and no explicit or implicit representations of the cracks’ topology are needed. CEM does not need remeshing technique, cover algorithm, nodal enrichment or specific crack tracking strategies. The crack opening is condensed in local element, greatly reducing the coding efforts and simplifying the numerical procedure. This paper presents numerical simulations with CEM regarding several benchmark tests, the results of which further indicate the capability of CEM in capturing complex crack growths referring propagations of existed cracks as well as initiations of new cracks.
Organisation(s): Institute of Continuum Mechanics
External Organisation(s): Hebei University of Technology
Tongji University
Type: Article
Journal: Journal of Applied and Computational Mechanics
Volume: 5
Pages: 552-562
No. of pages: 11
Publication date: 05.2019
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Computational Mechanics, Mechanical Engineering
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.22055/jacm.2018.27589.1418 (Access: Open)
https://doi.org/10.15488/11227 (Access: Open)
: Details in the research portal "Research@Leibniz University"

BibTeX

@article{09ef23b41e614806b14ab57344916d16,
title = "Cracking Elements Method for Simulating Complex Crack Growth",
abstract = "The cracking elements method (CEM) is a novel numerical approach for simulating fracture of quasibrittle materials. This method is built in the framework of conventional finite element method (FEM) based on standard Galerkin approximation, which models the cracks with disconnected cracking segments. The orientation of propagating cracks is determined by local criteria and no explicit or implicit representations of the cracks{\textquoteright} topology are needed. CEM does not need remeshing technique, cover algorithm, nodal enrichment or specific crack tracking strategies. The crack opening is condensed in local element, greatly reducing the coding efforts and simplifying the numerical procedure. This paper presents numerical simulations with CEM regarding several benchmark tests, the results of which further indicate the capability of CEM in capturing complex crack growths referring propagations of existed cracks as well as initiations of new cracks.",
keywords = "Complex crack growth, Cracking elements method, Fracture analysis, Quasi-brittle material",
author = "Zizheng Sun and Xiaoying Zhuang and Yiming Zhang",
note = "Funding Information: Funding The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support offered by NSFC 51809069, NSFC 11772234 and Hebei key research and development program 18216110D.",
year = "2019",
month = may,
doi = "10.22055/jacm.2018.27589.1418",
language = "English",
volume = "5",
pages = "552--562",
journal = "Journal of Applied and Computational Mechanics",
issn = "2383-4536",
publisher = "Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz",
number = "3",
}