5th International Congress on Computational

Mechanics and Simulation, 10-13 December

2014, India

SIMULATION OF PLATE WITH CRACK USING EXTENDED

FINITE ELEMENT METHOD
Virender Kumar, I. V. Singh, B. K. Mishra and G. Bhardwaj
MIED, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, India
E-mail: virenhp4085@gmail.com,ivsingh@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
In this paper, an extended finite element method (XFEM) is employed to simulate a plate with
through thickness cracks. The numerical formulation is done using Mindlin-Reissner plate theory.
A crack in the plate is modelled by using Heaviside and crack tip enrichment functions. The stress
intensity factor is computed using domain form of an interaction integral. Different problems of
through-the-thickness cracks are simulated and compared with available literature results. Several
problems of plate with crack under different boundary and loading conditions are solved by XFEM.
Keywords: XFEM, Crack, Plate bending, Mindlin-Reissner, Stress Intensity Factor

Introduction
Fracture of plates is an area of great practical as well as theoretical importance. Most of the study
on the fracture mechanics of shells and plates has been focused on in-plane tensile loading as
described in literature by Moes et al. (1999). However, there are many practical problems where
loading is out-of-plane or a combination of in-plane and out-of-plane. The analytical approaches
used for solving these problems are limited to simple geometries and boundary conditions. Plates
when subjected to high loading may develop large stresses in the body exceeding material strength
and thus results in the progressive failure. These failures are generally initiated by surface or near
surface cracks. These cracks reduce the strength of the material. The presence of crack generates
problem, as crack can significantly affect the structural integrity of component and shortens service
life. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the stress distribution in the region near the crack to
predict the failure. To predict the failure of component, stress intensity factor (SIF) needs to be
computed accurately. Few analytical solutions are available in literature for simple geometries and
loads. Numerical methods needs to be applied for the complex geometries and loading conditions.
In the present work, extended finite element method (XFEM) is used for the simulation of plate in
the presence of crack. Thin plate is modeled through Mindlin-Reissner plate theory to neglect the
effect of shear locking. The domain form of interaction integral is utilized to calculate stress
intensity factor. Numerical results obtained using XFEM are compared with available literature by
Sosa and Eichen (1986). These simulations show a good agreement in the results with literature
over a wide range of crack lengths and plate thicknesses. Several problems of through thickness
cracks (center, left edge and double edge crack) in square plate are solved subjected by XFEM
subjected to edge moments.

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5th International Congress on Computational Mechanics and Simulation, 10-13 December 2014,
India

Plate Model
The Mindlin-Reissner plate theory is employed and is based on kinematic displacement model as in
Dolbow et al. (2000)
u(x,y, z) z. x (x,y)
(1)
v(x,y,z) z. y(x,y)
(2)
w(x,y, z) w0(x,y)
(3)
where u, v and w are defined as displacement component in x, y and z directions respectively. The
term x and y represents average rotations to the reference plane along x and y directions
respectively. The transverse displacement at the reference surface is defined by w0.

XFEM for Plate

In XFEM, the displacement approximation is locally enriched to simulate discontinuities. Few
additional degrees of freedom are added to the selected nodes of elements which are influenced by
the crack face and crack tip. The equation for transverse displacement and rotational component is
taken as described in Dolbow et al. (2000)

wh ( )

ncf

( )bk
i 1
j 1
k 1
1

ncf
nen
nct
4

h ( ) N i ( )ui N j ( ) H ( )a j N k ( ) F ( )bk
i 1
j 1
k 1
1

nen

nct

Ni ( )ui N j ( ) H ( )a j N k ( )

(5)
(6)

Where H ( ) is the Heaviside function, and F are crack tip enrichment functions respectively
for transverse displacement and rotation.

1 if ( ) 0
1 otherwise

H( )

(7)

where ( ) represents the level set function.

The crack tip enrichment functions are defined as in Dolbow et al. (2000):

3
3
3 3
3
r cos
r sin
r cos
2
2
2
2

F ( ) r cos , r sin , r cos sin , r sin sin

2
2
2
2

( )

r sin

(8)
(9)

where, r and are the local crack tip parameters.

Stress Intensity Factor

A most appropriate method for computing stress intensity factor is domain based interaction
integral approach. The two states of field quantities are considered i.e. present state (M, Q, , w)
and auxiliary state (Maux, Qaux, aux, waux) for deriving the interaction integral. The interaction
integral is computed as described in Dolbow et al. (2000)

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5th International Congress on Computational Mechanics and Simulation, 10-13 December 2014,
India

I M aux
Maux ,1 Q w,1aux Qaux w,1 Wint 1 q, dA
,1

aux

(10)

aux
aux
Qaux ,1 Q w,aux
1 ,1 s ,1 qdA

24
K I K Iaux K II K IIaux
3
Eh

(11)

We set KIaux=1, KIIaux=0 in eq. (11) to compute the value of KI.

KI

Eh3
I
24

(12)

The value of KII is extracted in the same way as that of KI.

Results and Discussion

In the present work, the analysis for plate in the presence of crack has been carried out using
XFEM under different boundary conditions and loading conditions. The nine noded quadrilateral
elements are used for the purpose of analysis with regular mesh size of 30 30 . The accuracy of
solution decreases due to the presence of crack in an element. Therefore, a sub-triangulation
scheme is employed for the integration in these elements. The stress intensity factor is computed
using domain based interaction integral and are compared with available results in the literature. A
center cracked square plate subjected to edge moments is taken for analysis as shown in Fig. 1.The
following material properties are used for analysis, i.e. E=1000, =0.3, L=1.
M0

Center Crack with Edge Moment

2.2

XFEM (L/h=2)
Literature (L/h=2)

XFEM (L/h=10)
Literature (L/h=10)

1.8
1.6
K/M*sqrt(a)

2a
h

1.4
1.2
1

2L

0.8
0.6
0

M0

Fig. 1. Geometry and loading conditions

for the center cracked plate

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

a/L

Fig. 2. Normalized moment intensity factor for

square plate containing central crack

In case of center cracked problem, the normalized moment intensity factor computed using XFEM
for different L/h ratios i.e. 2 and 10 are compared with the available literature results by Sosa and
Eichen, (1986) as depicted in Fig. 2. The normalized moment intensity factor obtained using
XFEM is found to be in good agreement with the available results. A square plate with double edge
cracks subjected to edge moments is further taken for simulation as shown in Fig. 3. In case of
double edge crack problem, the normalized moment intensity factor computed are compared with
the available literature results in Sosa and Eichen (1986) for L/h = 2 and 10 as depicted in Fig. 4.

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5th International Congress on Computational Mechanics and Simulation, 10-13 December 2014,
India
M0

2
XFEM (L/h=2)
Literature (L/h=2)
XFEM (L/h=10)
Literature (L/h=10)

1.8

2c

a
h

K/M*sqrt(a)

1.6

2L

1.4

1.2

0.8

0.6

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

c/L

M0
Fig. 3. Geometry
and loading conditions for the
double edge cracked plate

Fig. 4. Normalized moment intensity factor for

square plate containing double edge crack

Conclusion
In this paper, through thickness crack plate is modeled and simulated by XFEM using MindlinReissner plate theory. The values of stress intensity factors are evaluated using domain based
interaction integral approach. Several problems are solved for square plate containing through-thethickness cracks i.e. center, left edge and double edge subjected to edge moments. The values of
stress intensity factor are reported for a plate with cracks under edge moment loading. From the
simulations, it is observed that the results obtained by XFEM for different L/h ratios for edge crack,
center crack and double edge crack are found in good agreement with the literature results.

References
Dolbow, J., Moes, N. and Belytschko, T. (2000), Modeling fracture in Mindlin-Reissner plates
with the extended finite element method, International Journal of Solids and Structures, 37,
7161-7183.
Hui, C.Y., and zehnder, A.T., (1993), A theory for the fracture of thin plates subjected to bending
and twisting moments, International Journal of Fracture, 61,221-229.
Lasry, J., Renard, Y., Salaun, M. (2010), Stress Intensity Factors computation for bending plates
with XFEM Int. J. for Numer. Meth. Engng. 00, 1-21.
Moes, N., Dolbow, J., Belytschko, T. (1999), A finite element method for crack growth without
remeshing, Int. J. Numer. Meth. Engng. 46,131150.
Sih, G.C., and Rice, J.R. (1961), The Bending of Plates of Dissimilar Materials With Cracks,
Journal of Applied Mechanics.
Sosa, A.H., and Eichen, W. J. (1986), Computation of stress Intensity factors for plate bending via
a path-independent integral, Engineering Fracture Mechanics vol. 25, no. 4, pp 451-461.

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