Summary

TheFiniteElementMethod(FEM)hasbeenoneofthemostpowerfulnumericaltoolsforthe
solutionofthecrackprobleminfracturemechanics.In1960s,youcanfindtheearlyapplication
ofthefiniteelementmethodinthepapersbySwedlow,WilliamsandYang[1965].Henshelland
Shaw[1975]andBarsoum[1976]suggestedthequarterpointelementinordertogetaccurate
solutionaroundcracktipin1975.Ontheotherhand,Blenzley[1974]developedtheenriched
elementsin1974.Inrecentresearch,ExtendedFiniteElementMethod(XFEM),whichallowsyou
tocalculatethecrackpropagationwithoutremeshingfiniteelements,isproposedattheendof
20thcentury.

Introduction

Itisknownthatthesolutionofthefiniteelementhassomeerror(5to10%)withthegeneral
isoparametricelement.Inadditiontothat,itisalsoreportedthatthelargenumberofthemesh
dontguaranteethesolutionsinthevicinityofthecracktip.Thereasonofthoseinaccurate
solutionsiscausedbythesingularityofthestress(strain)fieldaroundcracktipasshownbelow.
(ModeIcracktipfieldfromLEFM)
3C

cos

3C

r
3C
r

sin

sin

cos

cos
2

Duetothelowerorderoftheshapefunctionoftheisoparametricelements;thosesingularity
variationishardlyobtained.Inthispaper,twooutstandingtechniqueswillbeintroduced.Both
techniquescanachievethesingularityfieldaroundthecracktip.OneiscalledCollapsed
QuadrilateralQuarterelementandtheotherisenrichedelements.
3

QuarterPointElement

HenshellandShawandBarsoumindependentlyfoundthatbymovingthemidnodeofaeight
nodequadrilateralelementtoaquarterpointposition,thedesired1/variationforstrainscanbe
achievedalongrays,withintheelement,theemanatefromthenodecracktip.[Sanford,2002]
AsyoucanseeintheFigure,thiscanbeeasilydonebymovingthenode6closetothe3andalso
locatenode4,7and3atthesameplace.Furthermore,asyoumovethemidpointtothequarter
point,theshapefunctioninglobalcoordinatebecomesmoresimilartothe1/rfunction.
However,whenthenodesarecollapsedtoproducethe1/rvariation,theelementreflectsonly
thenearfieldbehavioranditssizeshouldberestrictedtothatoftheregionofvalidityofthe
nearfieldequation.Pu,etal.notedthatthe12nodecollapsedelementgavegoodresultsfor
problemstheyinvestigatedifr0wererestrictedto12%ofthecracklength,whichis
comparablewiththesizeofthesingularitydominatedzonedeterminedbyChona,Irwin,and
Sanford[Chona,R.,Irein,G.,andSanford,R.J.,1983]Inparticular,asmallnumberofQuarter
PointElement(QEP)surroundingthecracktipresultsininadequatemodelingofthe
circumferentialdisplacements,whiletoosmallaspanangleintroduceserrorsduetoexcessive
elementdistortion.Therefore,itwouldseemthatemployingbetween6and8QEPsare
reasonable.[I.L.Lim,I.W.JhonstonandS.K.Choi,1993]

473
H/4

8
6

6
3H/4

Figure1QuadrilateralIsoparametricandCollapsedQuarter PointElement


Figure2ImageofShapeFunction

Eventhoughquarterpointelementshavesomedifficultyinmeshing,thereisastrongadvantage
ofcapabilityofusinggeneralFiniteElementCode.Inotherwords,thereisnoneedtochangethe
formulationoffiniteelement.Bothnodesaresimplyexpressedasbelow.
u x

N x u

Transitionelement

Underspecialconfiguration,transitionalelementsimprovetheaccuracyofstressintensityfactor
computations.Thesetransitionalelementsarelocatedintheimmediatevicinityofthesingular
elementswiththemidsidenodessoadjustedastoreflectorextrapolatethesquareroot
singularityonthestressandstrainsatthetipofthecrack.Asshownintheequation,themid
pointofthetransitionalelementcanbeobtainedbythisrelation.Inthisformula,thelengthof
thecollapsedQPEisdefinedas1andListheLengthfromcracktiptotheoutsideofthe
transitionalelements.
L

2L
4

AccordingtotheM.A.Hussain,itwasfoundthattherewasimprovementinaccuracyfora
configurationwhichconsistedonlysingularandtransitionalelements,whentransitional
elementsareusedforadoubleedgecrackproblem.

Figure3TransitionElement

MeshingRulesforQPEandtransitionalelement

Fig.4istheexampleofthemeshingforthecracktipproblem.Asyoucanseeinthefigure,aplate
withcertaincracksizeisgiven.Quarterpointelementsarelocatedaroundthecracktipsothat
thesingularityofthestress&strainfieldwillbesatisfied.Transitionalelementsaredeployed
rightnexttothequarterpointelement.Finally,restoftheregionoftheplateismeshedbythe
CPE8elements.
Ingeneral,thereisnooptimalnumbersforthesizeoftheeachelement.Themeshsizeshouldbe
determinedineachproblemsothatgoodaccuracyisobtained.However,thereexistsome
suggestionsinordertodefinethesizeofthemesh.ForthecollapsedquadrilateralQPE,the
recommendedratioforthecracklengthandthedistancebetweencracktipandquarterpointis

aboutLQPE/a=0.05~0.10,whereaisdistancebetweencracktipandquarterpoint.Also,since
biggernumberofelementsinhoopdirectionwillmakethoseelementsexcessivelydistorted,
numberofelementsincircumferentialdirectionshouldbe6~8.Transitionelementsareexpected
tobebiggerthanquarterpointelementsanditisknowthatLTra/LQPE~2.5inFig.4givesyoua
goodaccuracyundersomespecialproblems.

Figure4

MeshingConfiguration

TheFig.5istheexampleoftheeffectoftheelementssize.Inthisgraph,LQPE/aappearsonthe
xaxisandtheerrorSIF(StressIntensityFactor)appearsontheyaxis.Asyoucanseeinthisgraph,
regardlessofmethodtofindtheSIF,theerrorinSIFincreasesalot,ifyouhaveasmall
size(LQPE/aislessthan0.05)QPE.ThemethodtofindtheSIFwillbediscussedinnextsection.


Figure5StressIntensityFactorvsQPEsize

StressIntensityFactor(SIF)

(a) Quarterpointdisplacementtechnique
Thequarterpointdisplacementtechnique(QPDT)wasappliedintheFEMsimulationtoevaluate
theSIF.
K

2G 2
vB
1 L

vD

2G 2
uB
1 L

uD

wheree,
=(3)/(1+ ) for
f plane stresss, = 3 - 4 foor plane strainn and axisym
mmetry,
f
L = leength of QPE along clack face,
u, v = local displaacement arouund crack as showed
s
in Figg.
(bb) Displacem
ment correlatioon technique
SimilaartotheQPD
DTmethod,SIFwillbefoun
ndbytheDisp
placementco
orrelationtech
hniqueas
shownbelow.

ngthesetechniques,theD
DCTismorew
widelyused,althoughtheQ
QPDTissimpllytoimplemeent.
Amon

D
B

Figure6No
ode#forSIFcalcculation

EnrichedElement

Anotherclassofelementsdevelopedtodealwithcrackproblemsisknownasenriched
elements.Thisformulationinvolvesaddingtheanalyticexpressionofthecracktipfieldtothe
conventionalfiniteelementpolynomialapproximationforthedisplacement.Asyouseeinthe
equationbelow,youaddtheextradegreeoffreedomtotheapproximationofthedisplacement.
Inthisclassoftheelements,KIandKIIwillaretheaddeddegreeoffreedomandQsarethe
functionswhichrepresentsthesingularfieldaroundthecracktip.Ingeneral,thoseQfunctions
arederivedfromanalyticalsolution.

N u

R a, b K I Q

N Q

K II Q

QI

1
1
cos
G
2
2

sin

Q II

1
1
sin
G
2
2

cos

QI

1
1
sin
G
2
2

cos

Q II

cos
G
2

1
2

10

sin

N Q


Figure7SStressIntensityFFactor

ThisFFig.7showsth
heresultfrom
mBlenzyspap
per[Benzly,1
1974]withsid
decrackedpaanel.Solidlinee
istheexperimentaaldataofnormalizedSIFandcirclesareehisFiniteEleementAnalyssisdata.
oundthatforthistypeofp
problem,enrichedelemen
ntmethodhassaccurate
Basicaally,hehasfo
solutionfromsmallcracksizeto
orelativelybigclack.
nownthaten
nrichedelemeentscanachieevesingularffieldaroundccracktipverywell.Howevver
Itiskn
thisisstrue,onlyifyouusetheaappropriatein
ntegrationmethod.Forexxample,Blenzzy[Benzly,
1974]]used7x7Gaussianquad
dratureinord
dertoachieveethishighero
orderfunction
ns.

11

Furthermore,sinceanotherDOFisintroducetotheexpression,stiffnessmatrixandloadvectors
arenotsameasthegeneralFEMcodeanymore.

K 11
21
K

K F
KI =
22
K F '
K II
12

Inthisexpression,K11istheoriginalstiffnessmatrixandFisloadvectors.Othermatricesand
vectorsareintroducedasyouaddextradegreeoffreedomKIandKII

NSFFEMver1.0

NSFFEM(NaotoSakakibaraFractureFEM)wasdevelopedbyFORTRAN95inordertoverify
thosefacts.Characteristicinformationislistedasbelow.
1.

Elementyoucanchooseeithergeneralquadrilateralelementorquarterpointelement.

2.

Elementsizeyoucanspecifythesizeoftheelement.

3.

Geometryonlysimplerectangularplatewithsmallcrackisavailable.(AsshowninFig)

4.

MaterialPropertyyoucaninputyourownmaterialproperty.

5.

SIF(StressIntensityFactor)SIFiscalculatedbyquarterpointdisplacementtechnique.

OneoftheexamplesoftheanalysisisshowedinFig.8andFig.9isthecalculationfromthe
ABAQUSwithquarterpointelements.Applyingdistributedloadonthetopedgeoftheplate
madeoftypicalbrittlematerialglass,youcangetthisdeformedconfigurationasshownbelow.
Thebottomedgeisfixed.

12


Figure8DeformedConfigurationofNSFEM

Figure9DeformedConfigurationofABAQUS

13

IntroductiontoExtendedFiniteElementMethod
Attheendofthe20thcentury,newfiniteelementmethodcalledExtendedFEMwasintroduced.
ThisisthenewFEMtechniquemainlyforthefracturemechanics.Theadvantageofthis
techniqueisthatmeshisindependentfromthecrackgeometry,whileinthemostoftheFEM
application,meshshouldbecreatedalongthecrackgeometry.However,XFEMdoesntneedto
considerthecrackgeometrywhenitiscreated.ThistechniquefirstintroducedbyBelytschko
et.al.intheirpaper.[NicolasMoes,JohnDolbowandTedBelytschko,1999]Inthissection,two
mainconceptofXFEMisexplained.Bothofthemareenrichingtechniquebyusingspecial
functionandaddingextradegreeoffreedom.Oneofthemisaddingsingularexpressionandthe
otherisaddingdiscontinuousexpressionwhichallowstheelementtohavetwodifferentstrain
andstressfield.TheequationbelowisgeneralXFEMexpression.Firsttermisrepresentgeneral
FEMapproximationofthedisplacementfieldand2ndtermappliessingularfieldaroundcracktip.
Finally,3rdtermgivesdiscontinuitytotheelements.

mt

mf

j =1

k =1

l =1

h =1

u (x) = N j (x)u j + N k (x)( Fl (x)b k ) + N h (x) H ( (x))a h

AddingSingularityfield
Aswellastheenrichedelementexplainedinthispaperbefore,thebasicconceptisadding
singularityfieldsothatFEMdisplacementapproximationachievesingularfieldaroundcracktip.
AsyoucanseeintheFig.normallythisenrichmentisappliedattheelementincludingcracktip.

AddingDiscontinuity
Byapplyingthediscontinuitytotheelement,wecanexpresstwodifferentstrainfieldsinone
element.Thismeansthatthestrainexpressioninonesideofcrackisdifferentfromtheother
sideofcrack.InthisFig.10,regionIandIIisinasameelementbutdifferentfieldsduetothe
discontinuousfunction.Also,twodashedlineinthepictureisassumedtwocrackedge.

14


Figure10Enrichedele
ementwithdisco
ontinuousfuncttion

EnrichingMesh
owninprevio
oussection,in
nXFEMelemeentsareenricchedbyaddin
ngsingularfieeldand
Assho
discon
ntinuity.The
ewaytoenricchingtheelem
mentisshown
nbelow.Singgularelementtshouldbe
locateedatthecraccktipandenrrichedbythediscontinuou
uspropertyellementshouldbedeployed
attheecrackexistliikeFig.11

15


F
Figure11Enrich
edelementaroundcracktip

Conclusion

Inthisspaper,three
eFEMtechniq
quesforfractturemechaniicswereintro
oduced.Firsto
oneisquarteer
pointelement.The
ebenefitofth
hiselementissyoucanuseegeneralshap
pefunctionfo
orfinite
elemeentapproximation;thereforethismeth
hodisrelativeelyeasytouse.Secondoneisenrichingg
theellementbyderivedfunctioninanalyticaalcalculation.Thisisnotsttronglydepen
ndentonmessh
size.B
Bothtwowassintroduceab
bout1970saandnowadayssnewtechniq
quecalledXFEMisunder
thereesearch.XFEM
Menablesyou
utoanalyzetthecrackproblemwithouttconsideringthecrack
geom
metry.Meshissindependentfromthecraackgeometryy.Allyouneedtoworryistoenrich
appro
opriateeleme
entinrightwaay.

16

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Sanford,R.(2002).PrincipleofFractureMechanics.UpperSaddleRiver,NJ07458:Pearson
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Figure1QuadrilateralIsoparametricandCollapsedQuarterPointElement
Figure2ImageofShapeFunction

17

4
5

Figure3TransitionElement
Figure4MeshingConfiguration
Figure5StressIntensityFactorvsQPEsize
Figure6Node#forSIFcalculation
Figure7StressIntensityFactor
Figure8DeformedConfigurationofNSFEM
Figure9DeformedConfigurationofABAQUS
Figure10Enrichedelementwithdiscontinuousfunction
Figure11Enrichedelementaroundcracktip

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