Int J Mech Mater Des (2012) 8:129–148
DOI 10.1007/s10999-012-9182-x
X-FEM simulation for two-unequal-collinear cracks in 2-D
finite piezoelectric specimen
R. R. Bhargava • Kuldeep Sharma
Received: 23 October 2011 / Accepted: 5 January 2012 / Published online: 20 January 2012
 Springer Science+Business Media, B.V. 2012
Abstract A study for two-unequal-collinear cracks
in a 2-D finite piezoelectric specimen is carried out
using a new set of six crack-tip enrichment functions
proposed here for piezoelectric media in the X-FEM
framework. The intensity factors and energy release
rate are calculated using interaction integral in conju-
gation with the near tip behavior given by the Stroh
formalism. Effect of finite size of the specimen is
analyzed with respect to offset distances of the cracks
from the specimen boundaries. ERR variations are
investigated with respect to inter- crack space, crack
lengths and electrical/mechanical loadings. Hence,
two-unequal-collinear cracks in an infinite domain
problem is simulated, analyzed and validated using
X-FEM. Further, ERR at the crack tips for the
asymmetric case of two collinear equal and unequal
cracks, is also computed. It is concluded through this
investigation that the proposed enrichment functions
could be used to handle the problems of fracture
mechanics in 2-D piezoelectric media within a good
accuracy.
Keywords Electric-displacement intensity factor 
Extended finite element method  Interaction integral 
Lekhnitskii’s formalism  Piezoelectric ceramics 
Stroh formalism
R. R. Bhargava  K. Sharma (&)
Department of Mathematics, Indian Institute
of Technology, Roorkee 247667, Uttarakhand, India
e-mail: kuldeeppurc@gmail.com
1 Introduction
Piezoelectric ceramics have, by now, unambiguously
proved their utility as a key component in high tech
apparatus as sensors/actuators/transducers. They have
consequently drawn attention of researchers to study
their various aspects. One such aspect is cracking and
fracture. Due to the electromechanical coupling, these
materials behave differently as compared to ordinary
materials. Consequently it is imperative to investigate
the fracture behavior of such materials.
In piezoelectric materials, two-collinear-cracks
problem has drawn attention of researchers in the last
decade. Zhou and Wang (2001) investigated two-
collinear impermeable anti-plane shear cracks in
piezoelectric strip using Schmidt method. Li and
Zhong (2005) provided the closed form solution for
two-collinear cracks in a piezoelectric strip under
permeable electric boundary conditions. The interac-
tion of two mode-I collinear cracks in piezoelectric/
piezomagnetic materials have been analyzed by Zhou
et al. (2007, 2008) using non-local theory. Zhou and
Wu (2007) and Zhou et al. (2007) also investigated the
problems of parallel cracks using Schmidt method and
Fourier transforms under permeable and limited
permeable boundary conditions. Yan et al. (2009)
examined behavior of functionally graded piezoelec-
tric materials containing two-collinear-unequal dielec-
tric cracks using Fourier transforms and Chebyshev
polynomials. It has been further observed by them
that traditionally applied impermeable and permeable
123
130
electric boundary conditions serve as the upper and
lower bound of the dielectric crack model. Recently,
Li and Lee (2010a, b) investigated mode-I two-
collinear-unequal cracks in 2-D piezoelectric/piezo-
magnetic media using a new approach of fundamental
solutions. The parametric studies performed reveal the
effects of inter-crack space, crack length, electric/
magnetic loading and remnant electric displacement
on energy release rates (ERRs).
However for practical applications and analysis of
fracture test specimens, of bounded geometry, com-
plex electromechanical boundary conditions and
material non-linearity requires a numerical analysis
such as finite elements method (FEM) or boundary
elements method (BEM). Allik and Hughes (1970)
were first to apply FEM to investigate vibrations in
piezoelectric ceramics. Kumar and Singh (1996, 1997)
investigated crack propagation and ERR under com-
bined mechanical and electrical loadings for double
edge notch problem. While Abendroth et al. (2002)
and Ricoeur et al. (2005) applied FEM analysis to
develop electromechanical J-integral, an equivalent
domain integral for a center crack piezoelectric 2-D
and 3-D problems. Kuna (2006, 2010) also jotted
down the different techniques to solve piezoelectric
fracture mechanics problems and present status of the
work done till date on piezoelectro-ceramics. The
extended finite element method (X-FEM) proposed by
Moës et al. (1999) and Belytchko and Black (1999)
proved to be a very efficient tool for the numerical
modeling of cracks in LEFM. Recently, Asadpoure
and Mohammadi (2007) have proposed the new
enrichment functions in terms of the X-FEM for the
crack modeling of the orthotropic composite materi-
als. Mousavi et al. (2011) studied the multiple cracks,
intersecting cracks and branch cracks using X-FEM
and the harmonic enrichment functions. For more
information, one can find interesting and schematic
reviews presenting the developments and applications
of the X-FEM to various problems in materials
modeling and engineering (Yazid et al. 2009; Bely-
tschko et al. 2009; Fries and Belytschko 2010).
More recently Béchet et al. (2009) proposed six
new crack-tip enrichment functions to investigate the
semi-infinite crack and Griffth–Irwin crack in 2-D
piezoelectric media with arbitrary polarization direc-
tion using X-FEM. They developed a set of six basis
functions for the crack modeling in piezoelectric
123
R. R. Bhargava, K. Sharma
materials using analytic calculation based on Lekh-
nitskii’s formalism (Ting 1996) and William’s Eigen
function approach. The results of their six basis
functions have been also compared with the standard
four-fold enrichment functions used in isotropic
materials.
As per the authors’ knowledge there is no study
available for two equal/unequal collinear crack prob-
lems in 2-D piezoelectric specimen using FEM/X-FEM
in literature. Consequently, an attempt is made to
address this paucity using X-FEM with newly proposed
six crack tip enrichment functions for 2-D piezoelectric
media. These proposed basis functions are mainly based
on the Lekhnitskii’s formalism and Asadpoure and
Mohammadi (2007) approach, and also considering the
polarization direction perpendicular to the crack.
Authors want to mention here that this approach is not
limited to poling perpendicular to crack axis but it can
also be extended to any arbitrary polarization direction.
This will be in process and the subject matter of other
research work. Further, the study of two-unequal-
collinear cracks with poling direction perpendicular to
crack axis is the main objective of this work so we
restrict ourselves to the same direction of poling axis.
Also most of the available literature on piezoelectric
fracture mechanics is based on the poling direction
perpendicular to the crack axis.
Sections 2, 3 lay down the fundamental equations
and crack tip fields in homogeneous piezoelectric
media, respectively. Extended finite element method-
ology with six standard and newly developed six
crack-tip enrichment functions is discussed in details
in Sect. 4. While interaction integral used for compu-
tations of intensity factors (IFs) is demonstrated in
Sect. 5. The key issue of validation of the proposed
enrichment functions is the subject matter of Sect. 6.
The analysis of two-unequal-collinear cracks in 2-D
finite piezoelectric specimen using X-FEM and newly
proposed crack tip enrichment functions is presented
in Sect. 7. Section 8 gives the conclusions of the work
done in the paper.
2 Basic equations for piezoelectric media
As are well-known, the fundamental equations and the
boundary conditions for linear piezoelectric media are
given below.
X-FEM simulation for two-unequal-collinear cracks 131

2.1 Field equations 3 Crack tip fields in homogeneous

piezoelectric media
In a fixed rectangular coordinate system xj (j = 1, 2, 3),
the field equations for a linear piezoelectric medium are For cracks in homogeneous piezoelectric media the
• Constitutive equations asymptotic behaviour of the field quantities is given by
Rao and Kuna (2008). The electromechanical stress
rij ¼ Cijks eks  esij Es ; Di ¼ eiks eks þ jis Es ; ð1Þ and electrical displacement fields can be written in
• Kinematic equations polar coordinates (r, h) {with the origin at the crack
tip} as
1 
eij ¼ ui;j þ uj;i ; Ei ¼ /;i ; ð2Þ 1 X
2 rij ðr; hÞ ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi KN fijN ðhÞ; ð9Þ
2pr N
• Equilibrium equations for stresses and electric
displacements in the absence of body forces and 1 X
Di ðr; hÞ ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi KN gNi ðhÞ; ð10Þ
charges may be written as 2pr N
rij;j ¼ 0; Di;i ¼ 0; ð3Þ
and the near tip displacement field and electrical
where rij, eij, Di and Ei denote the components of the potential can be obtained from
stress, strain, electric displacement, and electric field; rffiffiffiffiffi
Cijks and eiks denote the elastic and piezoelectric 2r X
ui ðr; hÞ ¼ KN diN ðhÞ; ð11Þ
constants, respectively; jis denotes the dielectric p N
permittivities. In Eqs. 2 and 3, comma denotes partial rffiffiffiffiffi
differentiation with respect to argument following it; ui 2r X
/ðr; hÞ ¼ KN mN ðhÞ; ð12Þ
is the component of the elastic displacement vector u; p N
/ is the electric potential; where i, j, k and s = 1, 2, 3.
where i, j = 1, 2, and the summation over N = {II,
I, III, IV} comprises the fracture opening mode
2.2 Boundary conditions
intensity factors, KII and KIII denote mode-II, mode-
III stress intensity factor, respectively. In case of
Consider a piezoelectric medium occupying the space
two-dimensional piezoelectric structure, KIII = 0.
X enclosed by surface S. On the boundaries Sr and SD,
The functions fijN ðhÞ; gNi ðhÞ; diN ðhÞ; and mN ðhÞ; are
the resultant of stresses and electric displacements are,
respectively, the standard angular functions for a crack in a
homogeneous piezoelectric medium. These depend
rij nj ¼ tj0 ; on Sr ; ð4Þ on the material properties and can be determined by
Dj nj ¼ x0 ; on SD ; ð5Þ means of the extended Stroh formalism and semi-
analytical calculations. These may be expressed in
where tj0 is prescribed on surface Sr and x0 is known terms of complex material eigenvalues pa, eigenvec-
on surface SD. nj is the jth component of the outward tors AMa and matrices MMa and NaN (Kuna 2006, 2010;
drawn unit normal vector on S. The displacement Rao and Kuna 2008) as
vector u is prescribed on surface Su and the electric X4  
potential / is prescribed on surface S/ as N Mia NaN pa
fi1 ¼  Re p ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi ;
a¼1 cos h þ pa sin h
uj ¼ u0j ; on Su ; ð6Þ  
X 4
Mia NaN
N
/ ¼ /0 ; on S/ : ð7Þ fi2 ¼ Re pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ; ð13Þ
a¼1 cos h þ pa sin h
2.3 Impermeable crack conditions X
4  
M4a NaN pa
gN1 ¼ Re pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ;
In case of impermeable conditions on the upper and a¼1
cos h þ pa sin h
lower crack faces Sc are X4  
M4a NaN
gN2 ¼ Re pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ; ð14Þ
Dj nj ¼ 0; on Sc : ð8Þ a¼1 cos h þ pa sin h

123
132 R. R. Bhargava, K. Sharma

X
4 n pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffio function, and to update this function with Hamilton–
diN ¼ Re Aia NaN cos h þ pa sin h ;
Jacobi equations knowing the speed of the interface in
a¼1
n the direction normal to this interface.
X
4 pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffio
mN ¼ Re A4a NaN cos h þ pa sin h ; ð15Þ In two-dimensions, the crack is an open curve bounded
a¼1 by the crack tip(s) and in three-dimensions, it is an open
surface bounded by the crack front. An extension of the
where Re{…} denotes the real part of the quantity in
LSM is proposed by Stolarska et al. (2001) to represent
brackets.
open boundaries using two level set functions
Four conjugate pairs of eigenvalues pa may be
obtained by solving the following equations • One normal level set function, w1, that is the signed
    distance to the union of the crack and the tangent
Ci1k1 ei11 Ci2k1 þ Ci1k2 ei21 þ ei12
þ extension from its front,
e1k1 j11 e2k1 þ e1k2 j12  j21 • And other the tangent level set function, w2, that is
 

Ci2k2 ei22 Ai the signed distance function to a surface that passes

pþ p2 ¼ 0: ð16Þ
e2k2 j22 A4 by the crack boundary and is normal to the crack.
Four eigenvalues having positive imaginary part The crack surface is defined as the subset of the zero
and the corresponding eigenvectors are used as a level set of w1 where w2 is negative. The crack front is
column vectors in the matrix A. The matrices MMa and defined as the intersection of the two zero level sets.
NaN are calculated by
1 4.2 Enriched approximation
NaN ¼ MMa

ðCi2k1 þ Ci2k2 pa ÞAka ðe1i2 þ e2i2 pa ÞA4a

¼ : Considering the impermeable boundary conditions
ðe2k1 þ e2k2 pa ÞAka ðj21  j22 pa ÞA4a
defined in Sect. 2.3 at the crack surface, the extended
ð17Þ finite element approximation for the displacement and
4 Extended finite element approximation electric potential can be written as follows
X
uh ðx; yÞ ¼ NI ðx; yÞ uI
Modeling of cracks using FEM is cumbersome in 2-D I2N
X    
for complex structures or crack geometries. But þ NI ðx; yÞ H f h ðx; yÞ  H ðfI Þ aI
X-FEM models crack(s) geometry independent of I2Ncr
the mesh leading to a simplification in mesh genera- X X
6   
tion and avoids remeshing as the crack grows. þ NI ðx; yÞ F k r; h; are im
k ; ak
The X-FEM exploits the partition of unity property I2NTIP k¼1
k
 re im

of FEM first identified by Moës et al. (1999), which  F x I ; y I ; ak ; ak bkI ð18Þ
allows local enrichment functions to be easily incor- X
/h ðx; yÞ ¼ NI ðx; yÞ /I
porated into a finite element approximation. A stan-
I2N
dard approximation is thus enriched in a region of X    
þ NI ðx; yÞ H f h ðx; yÞ  H ðfI Þ cI
interest by the local functions in conjunction with
I2Ncr
additional degrees of freedom. For crack problems the
X X
6   
enrichment functions are the near tip asymptotic fields þ NI ð xÞ F k r; h; are im
k ; ak
and a discontinuous function to represent the jump in I2NTIP k¼1
the displacement across the crack boundary. k
 re im

 F x I ; y I ; ak ; ak dIk ð19Þ

4.1 Description of crack geometry where H(f(x,y)) is a modified Heaviside step function
 
1 if z1 \0
To represent a crack, Level Set Method (LSM) H ðz1 Þ ¼ ð20Þ
þ1 if z1 [ 0
proposed by Osher and Sethian (1988) has been
applied. The principle of the method is to represent an And the shape functions, NI(x,y), are isoparametric
interface by the zero of a function, called level set linear quadrilateral element shape functions that

123
X-FEM simulation for two-unequal-collinear cracks 133

construct the partition of unity. The column matrices kije ¼ kijUU : ð23Þ
uI and /I are the nodal displacements and electric
potential respectively, and aI, bkI and cI, dIk are the While the element contribution to the global
  element force vector fext is
additional parameters. F k r; h; are k ; ak
im
is the basis
 T
for the crack tip, and which is discussed in detail in fie ¼ fiU fia fib and
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
 2  2ffi ð24Þ
Sect. 4.3. where r ¼ x  xtip þ y  ytip ; h ¼ fie ¼ fiU for the non-enriched element:
   
a tan 2 y  ytip ; x  xtip is the four-quadrant inverse where U ¼ fu /gT ; a ¼ faI cI gT ; b ¼ bkI dIk
tangent function; N is the set of all nodes in the and
discretization; NTIP is the set of all nodes that are Z
 r T s 
connected to elements containing crack tip(s); Ncr is kijrs ¼ Bi C Bj dX ðr; s ¼ U; a; bÞ;
the set of nodes that are connected to elements ð25Þ
X
e
containing the crack but not in NTIP. i; j ¼ 1; 2; 3; 4
The set of nodes elected for enrichment are shown Z Z
in Fig. 1. Substituting the approximate displacement U
fi ¼ Ni t dC þ Ni f dC
from Eq. 18 and the electric potential from Eq. 19 into
oXe Xe
the weak form illustrated in Piefort and Preumont Z
   
(2001), the standard discrete system of equations is fia ¼ Ni H f h ð xÞ  H ðfi Þ t dC
obtained oXe
Z
s
K d¼f ext
ð21Þ    
þ Ni H f h ð xÞ  H ðfi Þ f dC ð26Þ
where fext is the vector of external nodal forces and Ks Xe
Z
the stiffness matrix.  
The elementary stiffness matrix for an enriched fib ¼ Ni F k ð xÞ  F k ðxi Þ t dC
element is defined as oXe
Z
 
2 Ub 3 þ Ni F k ð xÞ  F k ðxi Þ f dC
kijUU kijUa kij
6 7 Xe
kije ¼ 4 kijaU kijaa kijab 5 ð22Þ
kijbU kijba bb
kij Ni is the standard finite element shape function
defined at node i, and Bi’s are the nodal matrices of the
and in case of non-enriched element shape derivatives.

Fig. 1 The set of nodes

selected for enrichment

123
134 R. R. Bhargava, K. Sharma

4.3 New crack-tip enrichment functions analytical solutions for crack-tip asymptotic fields in
for X-FEM in 2-D piezoelectric media the form

In this section we first define the standard crack-tip pffiffiffiffiffi X

3 pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
enrichment functions proposed by Béchet et al. (2009) ux ðr; hÞ ¼ 2r Re pm hm cos h þ am sin h;
n¼1
and then the new crack-tip enrichment functions based
pffiffiffiffiffi X
3 pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
on Leikhntskii’s and Asadpoure and Mohammadi uy ðr; hÞ ¼ 2r Re qm hm cos h þ am sin h;
(Asadpoure and Mohammadi 2007) as Set-I and n¼1
Set-II, respectively. pffiffiffiffiffi X
3 pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
/ðr; hÞ ¼ 2r Re sm hm cos h þ am sin h;
4.3.1 Set-I: Standard six crack tip enrichment n¼1
functions in case of poling being perpendicular 1 X3
hm a2m
to the crack faces (Be´chet et al. 2009) rxx ðr; hÞ ¼ pffiffiffiffiffi Re pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi;
2r n¼1 cos h þ am sin h
 pffiffi pffiffi pffiffi pffiffi
gðr; hÞ ¼ r f1 ðhÞ; r f2 ðhÞ; r f3 ðhÞ; r f4 ðhÞ; 1 X3
hm
pffiffi pffiffi  ryy ðr; hÞ ¼ pffiffiffiffiffi Re pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi;
r f5 ðhÞ; r f6 ðhÞ ð27Þ 2r n¼1 cos h þ am sin h
Where 1 X3
hm am
8   rxy ðr; hÞ ¼  pffiffiffiffiffi Re pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi;
>  re im  wm ðh;are
m ;am Þ
im 2r cos h þ am sin h
> q
< m h;a ;a
m m cos if aim
m [0;
n¼1
2
f m ð hÞ ¼   1 X3
hm am d m
>   wm ðh; are
m ; am Þ
im Dx ðr; hÞ ¼ pffiffiffiffiffi Re pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi;
>
: qm h; are im
if aim
m ; am sin 2 m 0: 2r n¼1 cos h þ am sin h
1 X3
hm dm
ð28Þ Dy ðr; hÞ ¼  pffiffiffiffiffi Re pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi;
2r n¼1 cos h þ am sin h
The complex numbers am ¼ are im
m þ i am are the six
roots of the characteristic equation 49. The modified 1 X3
hm sm
Ex ðr; hÞ ¼  pffiffiffiffiffi Re pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi;
angle and radius have the form 2r n¼1 cos h þ am sin h
 
  p h X3
wm h; are ; a im
¼ þ p int 1 hm tm
m m
2 p Ey ðr; hÞ ¼  pffiffiffiffiffi Re pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi;
     h ! 2r n¼1 cos h þ am sin h
cos h  p int ph þ are m sin h  p int p ð31Þ
 arctan      ;
aim  sin h  p int h
m p pffiffiffi
ð29Þ where hm ¼ a Km1 r1 1 1
yy  Km2 rxy  Km3 Dy Þ for
  m ¼ 1; 2; 3
qm h; are im
m ; am
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
h    i The complex numbers am ¼ are im im
m þ iam , (an [ 0) are
1 4  re 2  im 2  re  2 im 2 1 cos 2h:
¼ pffiffiffi am þ am þ am sin 2h  are m þ am the three roots of the characteristic equation 49 with
2
positive imaginary part and the other complex vari-
ð30Þ
ables pm, qm, sm, tm and Kij are given in Appendix 1.
Equations 29 and 30 assures that there are only three As the above field variables contained the
distinct values of modified angles and radii corre- pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
functions cos h þ am sin h, therefore, considering
sponding to eigenvalues with positive imaginary part, Asadpoure and Mohammadi (2007) approach one
the rest are same to their respective conjugate parts. can write this function as
4.3.2 Set-II: New enrichment functions developed pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
 
considering poling as perpendicular cos h þ am sin h ¼ cos h þ are m þ iam sin h
im

to the crack faces pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi

¼ cm ðcos /m þ i sin /m Þ
    
Xu and Rajapakse (1999) using extended Lekhnit- pffiffiffiffiffi /m /
¼ cm cos þ i sin m
skii’s formalism (Sosa 1992) obtained the explicit 2 2

123
X-FEM simulation for two-unequal-collinear cracks 135

where the modified radii. To observe this difference in the

 
 qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi modified radii, plots are drawn for qm h; are im
    m ; am
cm h; are ; a im
¼ cos h þ a re sin h 2 þ aim sin h 2 qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
 ffi
m m m m
and cm h; are m ; a im for p\h  p:
m
ð32Þ pffiffiffiffi
Figure 2 depicts the variation of ql and cl for l = 1,
and considering the angular dependency 2 and 3 with respect to –p \ h B p. It is observed that
  pffiffiffiffi
  p the values of cl are greater than ql but the trends and
h
/m h; are
m ; a im
m ¼ þ p int the variation with respect to h is almost the same. It is
2 p
     h ! noted that these are approximately a scalar multiple of
cos h  p int ph þ are m sin h  p int p each other. It is found that the variation and the values
 arctan   h   pffiffiffipffiffiffiffi
aim
m sin h  p int p of 1= 2 cl and ql are not significantly different for
ð33Þ all the corresponding eigenvalues with respect to
–p \ h B p as shown in Fig. 3. This fact is further
Since the solution for the displacements, potential and established by comparing the results for different
the field variables near the crack tip depends on the piezoelectric materials shown in Fig. 4.
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
function cos h þ am sin h: Consequently, the basis As the scalar multiple of the basis functions do not
function for the crack tip enrichment in X-FEM can be affect the solution space hence the solution spaces
considered as generated by the corresponding Set-I and Set-II
     enrichment functions are also approximate to each
pffiffipffiffiffiffiffi /1 pffiffipffiffiffiffiffi / other but not exactly equal.
r c1 cos ; r c2 cos 2 ;
2 2 This justifies the new independent crack-tip enrich-
   
pffiffipffiffiffiffiffi / pffiffipffiffiffiffiffi / ment functions for X-FEM developed in Set-II for 2-D
r c3 cos 3 ; r c1 sin 1 ; ð34Þ
2 2 piezoelectric materials.
   
pffiffipffiffiffiffiffi / pffiffipffiffiffiffiffi /
r c2 sin 2 ; r c3 sin 3 4.3.3 Set-I & Set-II types of enrichment functions
2 2
independent/dependent
It is observed from Eqs. 29 and 33 that the modified
angles defined in both the sets are equal for the qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
 ffi  re im 
Consider cm h; are im
m ; am ¼ C qm h; am ; am
respective eigenvalues but there is a difference in

qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
4  2  ffi 1       h    i
cos h þ are sin h þ a im sin h 2 ¼ C pffiffiffi 4 are 2 þ aim 2 þ are sin 2h  a re 2 þ aim 2 1 cos 2h
m m  m m m m m
2
 h n
 2  im 2 4 1
 re 2  im 2  re   2  im 2 o i
) cos h þ are m sin h þ am sin h ¼ C am þ am þ am sin 2h  are m þ am 1 cos 2h
4
 h n
1   2  im 2
    2  im 2 o   i
) arem þ am þ are m sin 2h  are
m þ am 1 cos 2h þ 1 þ are m sin 2h
2
 h n    o i
4 1
 re 2  im 2  re  2 im 2
¼ C am þ am þ am sin 2h  are m þ am 1 cos 2h ) C4
4
h n o i
  are 2 þaim 2 þare  sin 2h  are 2 þaim 2 1 cos 2h þ 1 þ are  sin 2h
4 m m m m m m
¼ h      n    o i
2 2 im 2 þ are sin 2h  2 im 2 1 cos 2h
are
m þ am m arem þ am
2  re  3
1 þ a sin 2h
) C4 ¼ 241 þ h 2  2   m
n    o i5
are þ a im þ are sin 2h  a re 2 þ aim 2 1 cos 2h
m m m m m

123
136 R. R. Bhargava, K. Sharma

ρ1 ρ3(PZT-5H)
1.1 √(γ1) 1.1 (1/√ 2)√(γ3)(PZT-5H)
ρ2 ρ3(PZT-4)
1 √(γ2) 1 (1/√ 2)√(γ3)(PZT-4)
ρ3
Modified radius

0.9 ρ3(BaTio3)

Modified radius
√(γ3) 0.9
(1/√ 2)√(γ3)(BaTio3 )
0.8
0.8
0.7
0.7
0.6
0.6
0.5
0.5
0.4
-4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4
Angle(θ) 0.4
-4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4
pffiffiffiffi Angle(θ)
Fig. 2 Variation of modified radii ð ci and qi Þ in both the Sets
of crack-tip enrichment functions w.r.t. angle (h) pffiffiffiffiffi
Fig. 4 Variation of Modified radii (p1ffiffi2 c3 and q3 ) in both the
Sets of crack-tip enrichment functions w.r.t. angle (h) for
different piezoelectric materials
ρ1
(1/√2)√(γ1)
1.1 PZT-5H factor (EDIF) for the homogeneous piezoelectric
ρ2
1 (1/√2)√(γ2)
materials (Rao and Kuna 2008).
ρ3
The path independent electromechanical J-integral
Modified radius

0.9
(1/√2)√(γ3) for a homogeneous piezoelectric cracked body was
0.8
given by Cherepanov (1977)
Z  
oui o/
0.7 J¼ Wd1j  rij  Dj mj dC; ð35Þ
ox1 ox1
0.6 C
R R
0.5 where W ¼ rij deij  Di dEi is the electric enthalpy
density, mj is the jth component of the outward unit
0.4
-4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 vector normal on an arbitrary contour C enclosing
Angle(θ)
crack tip and dij is the Kronecker delta. For linear
pffiffiffiffi  piezoelectric material, an equivalent domain form
Fig. 3 Variation of modified radii p1ffiffi c and qi in both the
i
2 may be given as
Sets of crack-tip enrichment functions w.r.t. angle (h)
Z  
oui o/ oq
J¼ rij þ Dj  Wd1j dA; ð36Þ
ox1 ox1 oxj
A
Therefore, C* is a function of h and not an arbitrary
constant. where A is the area inside the contour C and q is a
Hence, Set-I and Set-II types of crack-tip enrich- smooth weight function chosen such that it attains the
ment functions are independent in nature. value unity at the crack tip, zero along the boundary of
the domain C, and smoothly interpolated in between.
Consider two independent equilibrium states of the
5 Interaction Integral cracked body: let state 1 correspond to the actual state
for the given boundary conditions, and state 2 be an
In this section expressions are derived for computing auxiliary state, which can be near-tip electromechan-
intensity factors for piezoelectric material using ical fields of any of the fracture opening modes I–IV.
interaction integral. The interaction integral method Superposition of these two states leads to another
is an effective tool for calculating the stress intensity equilibrium state called (state s) for which the domain
factors (SIFs) and electric displacement intensity form of the J-integral is given by

123
X-FEM simulation for two-unequal-collinear cracks 137

 The individual IFs for the actual state can be

Z  o uði 1Þ þ uði 2Þ 
J ðsÞ
¼
ð1Þ ð2Þ
rij þ rij
ð1Þ ð2Þ
þ Dj þ Dj obtained by judiciously choosing the auxiliary-state
ox1 (state 2).If state 2 be chosen as one of the following
A
 ways
!
o /ð1Þ þ /ð2Þ oq ð 2Þ ð2Þ
ðsÞ
 W d1j dA; ð37Þ (i) for fracture opening mode-I, then, KI ¼ 0; KII ¼
ox1 oxj ð2Þ
1; and KIV ¼ 0: Hence, Eq. 41 can be reduced to
where superscript i = 1,2, and s indicate fields and
quantities associated with state i and ð1Þ ð1Þ ð 1Þ
I ð1;I Þ ¼ KI Y22 þ KII Y12 þ KIV Y24 : ð42Þ
n  
ð1Þ ð2Þ ð1Þ ð2Þ
W ðsÞ ¼ rij þ rij eij þ eij (ii) for fracture opening mode-II, then Eq. 41
 o reduces to
ð1Þ ð 2Þ ð1Þ ð2Þ
 Dj þ Dj Ej þ Ej 2:
ð1Þ ð1Þ ð1Þ
I ð1;II Þ ¼ KI Y12 þ KII Y11 þ KIV Y14 ; ð43Þ
Expanding Eq. 37, one may write
J ðsÞ ¼ J ð1Þ þ J ð2Þ þ I ð1;2Þ ; and
where J(1) and J(2) are the electromechanical J-integrals (iii) for fracture opening mode-IV
for states 1 and 2, respectively, and interaction integral ð1Þ ð1Þ ð1Þ
I(1,2) is I ð1;IV Þ ¼ KI Y24 þ KII Y14 þ KIV Y44 ; ð44Þ
Z ð2Þ ð2Þ ð1Þ respectively.
ð1Þ oui ð1Þ o/ ð2Þ oui
I ð1;2Þ ¼ rij þ Dj þ rij ð1Þ ð1Þ
ox1 ox1 ox1 Solving simultaneous Eqs. 42–44, the IFs KI ; KII
A
ð1Þ
! and KIV are obtained. The interaction integrals I(1,I),
ð1Þ
ð2Þ o/ oq I(1,II) and I(1,IV) are evaluated using Eq. 38.
þDj  W ð1;2Þ d1j dA; ð38Þ
ox1 oxj

ð1Þ ð2Þ ð2Þ ð1Þ ð1Þ ð2Þ ð2Þ
where W ð1;2Þ ¼ rij eij þ rij eij  Dj Ej  Dj 6 Numerical validation

ð1Þ
Ej =2: Verifying the accuracy of the proposed crack-tip
As is well-known for piezoelectric solids under enrichment functions is essential, and thus two exam-
mixed-mode loading conditions; the electromechani- ples are considered to serve the validation purpose. The
cal J-integral can be written (Kuna 2006) as plain strain case is discussed when tensile loading
ryy = r? and electric-displacement Dy = D?
1
J ¼ K T YK; ð39Þ prescribed on the remote boundary of 2-D finite
2
specimen piezoelectric ceramic. The material PZT-5H
where K = {KII KI KIII KIV}T is the vector of the is used for the present analysis and material constants
intensity factors, and Y is the 4 9 4 generalized Irwin presented in Table 1 are taken from Li and Lee (2010).
matrix, which depends on the elastic, piezoelectric, To implement the XFEM solution, bilinear quadrilateral
and dielectric material constants and is given by elements are used in all the numerical examples. To
YMN ¼ ImfAMa NaN g: ð40Þ achieve the numerical results, the XFEM models are
designed in conjugation with the conventional topo-
Therefore, the interaction integral for two-dimen- logical approach. A 2 9 2 Gaussian quadrature rule is
sional case is given by employed for every non-enriched element, while more
ð1Þ ð2Þ ð1Þ ð2Þ ð1Þ ð2Þ integration points, e.g. 4 9 4, is applied to non-
I ð1;2Þ ¼ KII KII Y11 þ KI KI Y22 þ KIV KIV Y44
ð1Þ ð2Þ ð1Þ ð2Þ ð1Þ ð2Þ partitioned enriched elements, especially for enriched
þ ðKI KII þ KII KI ÞY12 þ ðKII KIV elements partitioned into sub-triangles, even higher-
ð1Þ ð2Þ ð1Þ ð2Þ ð1Þ ð2Þ
þ KIV KII ÞY14 þ ðKI KIV þ KIV KI ÞY24 : order Gaussian rules, e.g. 6 9 6, can be utilizable for
ð41Þ each sub-triangle. The total energy release rate

123
138 R. R. Bhargava, K. Sharma

Table 1 Material constants of PZT-5H

Properties PZT-5H

Elastic constants c11 = 126 GPa

c12 = 79.5 GPa
c13 = 84.1 GPa
c33 = 117 GPa
c44 = 23.0 GPa
Piezoelectric constants e15 = 17.44 C/m2
e33 = 23.3 C/m2
e31 = -6.5 C/m2
Permittivity j11 = 15.03 nC/Vm
j33 = 13.0 nC/Vm

(TERR), GT, and mechanical energy release rate

(MERR), GM, is calculated using IFs
 
1 K2I KI KIV K2IV
GT ¼ þ2  ;
2 CT d  k
1 K2I KI KIV
GM ¼ þ
2 CT d
where CT, d and k are evaluated from the Irwin
matrix Y defined in Sect. 5.
Fig. 5 Model geometry of the center crack
6.1 Griffith–Irwin crack in an infinite domain

In this section Griffith’s crack in an infinite domain is Griffith’s crack to the numerical solution of the same
considered with the applied boundary conditions problem on a finite computational domain. The error
ryy = r? = 1 MPa and Dy = D? = 10-3 C/m2 at in the total energy norm is given by

sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Z
1   
errW ¼ cijkl eij  eex ij ekl  eex kl þ jij ðEi  Ei Þ Ej  Ej
ex ex dV
2

infinity. The polarization direction is taken along the where eex ex

ij and Ej are the strain and electric field
Y-axis. The numerical computations are made on a components obtained from the exact solution (Béchet
finite specimen with dimensions 4 9 4 and a crack et al. 2009).
length, 2a = 1 as shown in Fig. 5. Since, the compu- The error in the total energy norm with respect to
tational domain is finite so we applied the exact number of elements in each direction is plotted on a
solution for Griffith’s crack in an infinite domain log–log scale in Fig. 6 for both the Set-I and Set-II
proposed by Béchet et al. (2009) as boundary condi- type of enrichment functions. It is clearly seen that
tions for the finite computational domain. errW converges for both the set of enrichment func-
tions approximately with a rate of convergence 0.5 i.e.
6.1.1 Convergence study in the energy norm a standard rate of convergence in X-FEM for linear
elements. This is also in agreement to the results of
The convergence study in the energy norm is inves- Béchet et al. (2009). Further, it is noticed that the
tigated by comparing the exact solution of the results obtained using Set-II type of enrichment

123
X-FEM simulation for two-unequal-collinear cracks 139

0.2 -1
10 10

0.1
10 Set-I type enrichment functions(Slope = -1.0)

( KIV(exact) -KIV ) / KIV(exact)

Set-II type enrichment functions(Slope = -1.0)

0
10
err W

-2
10
-0.1
10

-0.2
10

Set-I type enrichment functions(Slope = -0.5(approx.))

-0.3
Set-II type enrichment functions(Slope = -0.5(approx.))
10 -3
10
1 2
10 10 1 2
10 10
1/he 1/he

Fig. 6 Energy convergence with respect to 1/he for both the sets Fig. 8 Relative error in KIV with respect to 1/he for both the sets
of enrichment functions of enrichment functions
functions are better than the results of Set-I type
enrichment functions although these results are not From the above convergence study of error in total
significantly different from each other. energy and IFs, it is concluded that the Set-II type of
enrichment functions may also be applied for fracture
6.1.2 Convergence study in the intensity factors problems in 2-D piezoelectric media within a good
accuracy. To further emphasized on this issue a center
Figures 7 and 8 show the convergence study of IF KI crack problem is also investigated in the next subsec-
and KIV with respect to the number of elements in each tion using X-FEM and Set-II type of enrichment
direction, respectively. An excellent agreement of the functions, and then obtained results are compared with
relative errors in KI and KIV is observed for both the Li and Lee (2010) and exact results.
sets of crack-tip enrichment functions with respect to
1/he. It is also noted that the IFs KI and KIV converge 6.2 Center crack problem
with respect to 1/he for both the sets of enrichment
functions, and with a rate of convergence equal to A finite specimen of width 2w and height 2 h
1.1(approximately) and 1.0, respectively. weakened by a hair line straight crack, which occupies
the interval [-a,a] on x1-axis, is investigated. The
model geometry is shown in Fig. 5. Due to the
10
-1 symmetry of the problem, half plate 0 B x B w is
considered as shown in Fig. 9. Figure 10 illustrates the
Set-I type enrichment functions(Slope = -1.09) structured mesh with enrichment scheme for the
(KI (exact) - K I ) / K I (exact)

Set-II type enrichment functions(Slope = -1.07)

numerical simulation using X-FEM. The domain
radius for the interaction integral is taken as 0.6a.
-2
10 6.2.1 Convergence study

A study of convergence of IFs is performed in this

section. A specimen of width w = 5 mm, length
2 h = 10 mm and a half-crack length a = 1.0 mm is
10
-3 considered. The plate is subjected to a tensile loading
10
1 2
10 ryy = 5 MPa and in-plane electric loading Dy = (e33/
1/he
c33)ryy C/m2. The relative error in IFs KI and KIV with
Fig. 7 Relative error in KI with respect to 1/he for both the sets respect to the number of elements in a half-crack
of enrichment functions length (a/he) is depicted in Fig. 11. It is noted that for

123
140 R. R. Bhargava, K. Sharma

0.08

0.07

Relative error in K I(XFEM-Set-II)

(IFXFEM - IFexact ) / IFexact

0.06 Relative error in K I(Without enrichment)
Relative error in K IV(XFEM-Set-II)
0.05 Relative error in K IV(Without enrichment)

0.04

0.03

0.02

5 10 15 20
a/he

Fig. 11 Convergence study of IFs with respect to a/he for center

crack problem

the results obtained using X-FEM (Set-II) is better

than those obtained employing FEM on the same
structured mesh.

Fig. 9 Half plate symmetry of the center crack
a/he C 11.9 the IFs KI and KIV converge. The results
of IFs are also compared with the results calculated
from FEM (without enrichment) on the structured
mesh and same number of elements. It is observed that
6.2.2 Comparison with the results of Li and Lee
(2010)
Results for IFs KI, KIV and TERR for in-plane
electrical loading Dy = kd((e33/c33)ryy) {where kd is
the dimensionless electric loading factor}, and same

Fig. 10 Structured mesh

and enrichment scheme for
the center crack (half plate
symmetry)

123
X-FEM simulation for two-unequal-collinear cracks
Fig. 12 Variation of KI with respect to half crack length
Fig. 13 Variation of KIV with respect to half crack length
uniform tensile loading as defined above are obtained
for two cases when kd = 1 and kd = 2. The specimen
size is taken as w = 15.5 mm and 2 h = 31.0 mm.
A structured mesh with 99 9 199 elements is taken
for the numerical calculations. Figures 12, 13 and 14
show the variation of IFs KI, KIV and TERR with
respect to the half-crack length. It is observed that for
both the loadings, the results obtained using X-FEM
(Set-II) are in close agreement with the results of Li
and Lee (2010) and exact results. Deviation in the
results is observed for bigger crack lengths since then
the finitely distant boundary of the specimen starts
affecting.
Therefore, in further section numerical results are
obtained using X-FEM with Set-II type of crack-tip
enrichment functions.
141
Fig. 14 Variation of TERR with respect to half crack length
7 Numerical simulation for two collinear unequal
cracks
In case of two-unequal-collinear cracks, a specimen of
width 2w, length 2 h and two unequal cracks having
lengths equal to 2a01 and 2a02 and inter crack space
equal to d0 is taken. The offset distances from the
boundary of specimen from the left crack and the right
crack are taken as b11 and b12, respectively. A tensile
ryy = r? loading and an in-plane electric loading
Dy = D? is prescribed at boundary of specimen. The
model geometry and the load specified are shown in
Fig. 15. Here too PZT-5H is considered for study. The
structured mesh with enrichment scheme for two
unequal collinear cracks is shown in Fig. 1.
7.1 Convergence study
In this section convergence of IFs at the outer and
inner tips of the cracks is investigated. A specimen of
width 2w = 2 h = 25 mm, and the two unequal
collinear cracks 2a01 = 5.0 mm and 2a02 = 4.0 mm
with crack space d0 = 1.5 mm are considered. The
plate is subjected to a tensile loading ryy = 5 MPa and
in-plane electric loading Dy = 2(e33/c33)ryy C/m2. It
is observed that the values of IFs are more at the inner
tips than that at outer tips. Table 2 shows that
normalized result of IFs approaches to the value 1.0
as the mesh density is increased. Therefore, one can
consider a structured mesh with a01/he C 7.9 for the
numerical simulation, where a01 is half-length of the
longer crack.
123
142 R. R. Bhargava, K. Sharma

Table 3 Domain independence study for outer tips of two-

unequal-collinear cracks
rd/d0 Tip a1 Tip b2
Kffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi KIV Kffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi KIV
Dy pffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi Dy pffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi
p I p I
ryy pa01 pa01 ryy pa02 pa02

0.40 1.131 1.133 1.156 1.157

0.53 1.132 1.135 1.157 1.159
0.67 1.132 1.135 1.157 1.159
0.80 1.132 1.135 1.157 1.159
0.93 1.132 1.135 1.157 1.159

Table 4 Domain independence study for inner tips of two-

unequal-collinear cracks
rd/d0 Tip b1 Tip a2
Kffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi KIV Kffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi KIV
Dy pffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi Dy pffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi
p I p I
ryy pa01 pa01 ryy pa02 pa02

0.40 1.248 1.251 1.301 1.305

0.47 1.247 1.253 1.300 1.307
Fig. 15 Model geometry of the two unequal collinear cracks
0.53 1.247 1.254 1.300 1.307
0.60 1.247 1.254 1.300 1.308
7.2 Domain independence 0.67 1.247 1.254 1.300 1.308

The geometry and loadings are same as in the case of

Sect. 7.1. Here a structured mesh with 99 9 99
elements is considered. Tables 3 and 4 show the
normalized values of IFs for the outer tips and inner
tips of the cracks with respect to the domain radius
rd/d0 (in case of d0 \ a02), respectively. It is concluded
from these tables that rd C 0.53d0; the same show the
domain independence for the outer and inner tips for
both the cracks. Similarly, domain independence is
also observed for rd C 0.5a02 (in case of d0 \ a02).
Therefore, in further sections, rd = 0.53d0 (for
d0 \ a02) and rd C 0.6a02 (for d0 C a02) is fixed for
the domain radius at outer and inner tips.
7.3 Effect of the aspect ratio
In this section height of the specimen is varied from 15
to 50 mm, whereas the other geometric parameters
and the loadings remain the same as in Sect. 7.1. The
number of elements in the mesh is taken according to
the dimensions of the specimen such that length of the
element is approximately equal to 0.25 mm. Figure 16
shows the variation of TERR with respect to the aspect
ratio h/w at all the inner and outer tips. It is observed
that the normalized results of TERR stabilize at an
aspect ratio h/w C 1. The deviation at the low aspect

Table 2 Convergence study of IFs for two-unequal-collinear cracks

No. of elements Tip a1 Tip b1 Tip a2 Tip b2
Kffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi KIV Kffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi KIV Kffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi KIV Kffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi KIV
Dy pffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi Dy pffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi Dy pffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi Dy pffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi
p I p I p I p I
ryy pa01 pa01 ryy pa01 pa01 ryy pa02 pa02 ryy pa02 pa02

79 9 79 1.1486 1.1559 1.2717 1.2846 1.3294 1.3437 1.1767 1.1814

99 9 99 1.1316 1.1346 1.2468 1.2537 1.3000 1.3066 1.1567 1.1585
119 9 119 1.1237 1.1276 1.2233 1.2286 1.2797 1.2853 1.1413 1.1446
139 9 139 1.1164 1.1208 1.2097 1.2181 1.2729 1.2788 1.1352 1.1304

123
X-FEM simulation for two-unequal-collinear cracks
Fig. 16 Aspect ratio analysis for two unequal collinear cracks
ratio is because the applied loads can no longer be
considered as far-field loadings.
7.4 Effect of the offset distances
To assess the effect of the offset distances b11 and b12,
shown in Fig. 15, on TERR, the dimensions of the
specimen 2w = 2 h have been varied from 14 to
40 mm. The number of elements is fixed in such a way
that the length of an element is approximately equal to
0.20 mm. Figure 17 shows the behavior of TERR with
respect to b11/2a01. It is found that there isn’t a
significant difference in TERR values as the offset
distances increases to 1.85 times the crack length,
2a01. Almost similar behavior is seen for TERR with
Fig. 17 Effect of offset distance on TERR for two unequal
collinear cracks
143
respect to b12/2a02. It is concluded from the behavior
of TERR for a specimen of width greater than or equal
to six times and offset distances greater than or equal
to 1.85 times the length of a longer crack may be
considered as an infinite domain for the present set up.
Therefore, considering the finite specimen effect
and the aspect ratio analysis for a specimen of
dimensions 2w = 2 h = 31.0 mm, crack lengths
2a01 = 5.0 mm and 2a02 = 4.0 mm and inter crack
space d0 = 1.5 mm is taken in subsequent subsections
of Sect. 7. The computational aspect and the conver-
gence study also require us to take a structured mesh
with 119 9 119 elements for this particular domain.
The loadings applied in further sections of 7 are the
same as in Sect. 7.1.
7.5 Effect of inter-crack space
Figure 18 shows the behavior of TERR with respect to
increase in inter crack space. The two different crack
lengths are taken for shorter crack a02 = 2.0 and
1.0 mm, respectively. It is observed that the TERR is
more at the inner tips of the cracks than that at the outer
tips of the cracks. It is observed that with increase in
inter crack space d0; the TERR at the inner and the
outer tips becomes equal for both cases considered for
short crack lengths. This is because of the mutual
influence of cracks on each other decreases as the
distance between them is increased. Also it may be
noted from the graphs that when the smaller crack
length (a02 = 2.0 mm) is comparable to the fixed
Fig. 18 Effect of inter crack space on TERR for two unequal
collinear cracks
123
144 R. R. Bhargava, K. Sharma

length of the bigger crack (a01 = 2.5 mm) then inner

tip of the smaller crack is more stressed and the value
of TERR at the inner tip of the smaller crack is higher
than that at outer tip of the bigger crack. However, if
the length for shorter crack is further reduced (as in
present crack a02 = 1.0 mm) then such an effect
disappears and TERR at smaller crack tips remain
much lower than that at the bigger crack tips. The
behavior and the trends of the TERR at all the four tips
and for two cases of crack lengths considered, matches
with those of Li and Lee (2010).
It is clearly shown in Fig. 14 that in case of center
crack problem a semi-crack length 2.5 mm and for
both the cases kd = 1 and 2 of applied electrical
loadings, the TERR is more than 2.0 N/m. These
Fig. 19 Effect of crack length on TERR for two unequal
obtained results are also in agreement with Li and Lee collinear cracks
(2010) and exact results.
However the results of TERR {presented in Li and 7.7 Effect of symmetry about x2 axis
Lee 2010) for two-unequal-collinear cracks having
half-crack lengths a01 = 2.5 mm and a01 = 2.0 mm To understand the effect of symmetry of the cracks
with inter crack space d0 C 1.0 mm} is lower than about an axis placed at center of the specimen and
2.0 N/m under the same loading. This is not a realistic perpendicular to the crack plane, TERR is calculated
value since the presence of another crack of compa- for different values of d1/d2. The dimensions of the
rable crack length cannot decrease the TERR lower specimen, mesh and loading conditions are the same
than that in case of a single center crack problem. as concluded in Sect. 7.4.
Hence, there may be a possibility of computational Two cases considered are
error in the results of TERR given by Li and Lee
(2010). The results of TERR obtained by our model (i) When two cracks are of equal length
depicted in Fig. 18, show that the presence of second 2a01 = 2a02 = 5.0 mm with inter crack space
crack increases the TERR, as expected. d0 = 2.0 mm.
Figure 20 depicts the variation of TERR with
respect to d1/d2 for two equal collinear cracks. It
7.6 Effect of crack length

Figure 19 illustrates the influence of the crack lengths

on the TERR. It is being done by keeping bigger crack
length 2a01 fixed and varying length of the smaller
crack 2a02. It is observed that the TERR increases as
shorter crack length, a02, is increased. And the inner
tips of the cracks are more stressed than the outer tips
with respect to the variation of a02. It is also seen that
the graphs of TERR at inner and outer tips of bigger
crack intersect with the corresponding graphs of inner
and outer tips of the smaller crack when the lengths of
both the cracks become equal. This pertains to the case
of two equal collinear cracks weakening the finite
specimen. The trends and the behavior of TERR at all
the inner and outer tips are similar to that Li and Lee Fig. 20 Effect of symmetry about x2 axis for two equal
(2010). collinear cracks

123
X-FEM simulation for two-unequal-collinear cracks 145

shows that the variations in TERR at inner/outer

tip of any of the crack and outer/inner tip of the
other crack are similar to each other with respect
to d1/d2 variation. It is observed that the value of
TERR at inner tip is higher for a crack near the
perpendicular axis x2, and it decreases with the
increase in values of d1/d2 and becomes constant
for d1/d2 C 2. It is also noted that for all values of
d1/d2 the TERR at outer tips and inner tips of both
the cracks is equal.
(ii) When two cracks are of unequal length
2a01 = 6.0 mm and 2a02 = 4.0 mm with inter
crack space d0 = 2.0 mm.
Figure 21 depicts the variation of TERR with
respect to increase in d1/d2 at the tips of two
unequal collinear cracks. It may be noted that the Fig. 22 Effect of mechanical loading on TERR for two unequal
collinear cracks
TERR is higher at the tips of the bigger crack and
lower at the tips of smaller crack. It is seen that,
same as concluded in Sect. 7.4. Figure 22 shows that
as expected, the variations of TERR at the inner
the increase in mechanical loadings always increases
and outer tips of the cracks with respect to
the TERR. This is true at all the inner and outer tips
increase in d1/d2 are similar to the two equal
of the unequal collinear cracks. The mutual influence
collinear cracks.
of two cracks on each other is clearly seen as TERR is
more in case of inner tips than the outer tips for both
7.8 Effect of Mechanical loadings the cracks.

In this section the variation of TERR is studied with
respect to the variation in the mechanical loadings.
The applied in-plane electrical loading is kept fixed
and is taken as Dy = 0.001 C/m2. The geometry and
mesh defined here and in subsequent subsection are
7.9 Effect of Electrical loadings
Figures 23 and 24 respectively depict the behavior of
TERR and MERR with respect to the variation in the
electrical loadings. It is observed that the TERR and

Fig. 21 Effect of symmetry about x2 axis for two unequal Fig. 23 Effect of electrical loading on TERR for two unequal
collinear cracks collinear cracks

123
146
Fig. 24 Effect of electrical loading on MERR for two unequal
collinear cracks
MERR depends on the crack length. These are more
for a bigger crack and less for a smaller crack and their
values at the inner tips are always higher than those at
outer tips. It may be noted from Fig. 23 that the TERR
decreases symmetrically for kd = 2. This shows that
the TERR is independent of the direction of the
applied electrical loading. This is not in agreement of
the experimental findings. Therefore, TERR cannot be
considered as a fracture parameter.
Figure 24 shows that the MERR always increases
by increasing electrical loadings, kd, and decreases
with respect to the decrease in electrical loadings. It is
in agreement with the experimental findings that
negative and positive electrical loadings always pro-
duce a shielding and unshielding effect on crack
growth, respectively.
The trends and behavior of the TERR and MERR
shown in Figs. 23 and 24 match those of Li and Lee
(2010) too.
8 Conclusions
The conclusions are
• The numerical values of TERR are given for two
unequal collinear cracks situated symmetrically/
asymmetrically in a finite 2-D piezoelectric spec-
imen using X-FEM (Set-II) under different para-
metric studies namely inter-crack space, crack
length and the applied loadings.
123
R. R. Bhargava, K. Sharma
• A square specimen having width greater than or
equal to six times the length of a longer crack and
the offset distances greater than or equal to 1.85
times the length of a longer crack, may be
considered as an infinite domain.
• The crack effect on TERR strongly depends on the
crack dimensions and the distance between them.
The effect of cracks on each other weakens when
the distance between the cracks is greater than or
equal to the length of the cracks.
• It is concluded from the study of two-collinear
equal and unequal asymmetric cracks that bringing
the crack (whichever is bigger or smaller) nears the
centered symmetrical axis results in increased
ERR at the inner tip of the crack. The study also
concludes that TERR at inner/outer tip of the
bigger crack and outer/inner tip of the smaller
crack remain the same vis-à-vis the variation d1/d2
or d2/d1.
• The concept of TERR cannot be taken as a fracture
parameter as the TERR is independent of the
direction of the applied electric loading. However
MERR may be considered as a fracture criterion,
because under the applied positive electric loading
it shows that the crack growth enhances whereas
negative electrical loading may shield the crack
growth.
• Finally, it is concluded that in the framework of
X-FEM for piezoelectric media, the crack tip
enrichment functions do not depend upon the
approach of their development. It is basically
depend upon the true crack-tip solution spanned by
the enrichment functions. Hence, the proposed
enrichment functions in this paper can be consid-
ered as an alternatively ideal candidate for accu-
rately modeling of the singular fields of cracked
piezoelectric media with poling perpendicular to
crack axis.
Acknowledgment The authors are grateful to Prof. R.D.
Bhargava (Senior Professor and Head, Retd., Indian Institute of
Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India) for the encouragement
throughout the course of this work.
Appendix 1
Assuming the plain strain conditions, the constitutive
equations can be written as
X-FEM simulation for two-unequal-collinear cracks 147

8 9 2 38 9
< exx = a11 a12 a13 < rxx = l 2 ð an Þ
dn ¼ ;
eyy ¼ 4 a21 a22 a23 5 ryy l 1 ð an Þ
: ; : ;
2exy a231 a32 a333 rxy pn ¼ a11 a2n þ a12  a13 an þ dn ðb11 an  b21 Þ;
b11 b21    
þ b12 b22 5
4 Dx
ð45Þ qn ¼ a12 a2n þ a22  a23 an þ dn b12 an  dn b22 =an ;
Dy
b13 b23 sn ¼ b11 a2n þ b12  b13 an  dn ðd11 an  d12 Þ;
8 9
 
< rxx = tn ¼ b21 a2n þ b22  b23 an  dn ðd12 an  d22 Þ;
Ex b b12 b13
¼  11 r ð51Þ
Ey b21 b22 b23 : yy ;
2 3

  rxy
d d12 Dx   1 a2 d3  a3 d2 d2  d3 a3  a2
þ 11 ð46Þ Kij ¼ 4 a3 d1  a1 d3 d3  d1 a1  a3 5 ;
d12 d22 Dy D
a1 d2  a2 d1 d1  d2 a2  a1
where coefficients aij ; bij and dij are reduced elastic, ð52Þ
piezoelectric and dielectric constants, respectively
defined by Sosa (1992). where D ¼ a1 ðd2  d3 Þ þ a2 ðd3  d1 Þ þ a3 ðd1  d2 Þ
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