New Methods for Discontinuity and Crack

Modeling in EFG

Ted Belytschko l , Giulio Ventura 2 , and Jingxiao Xu l

1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston IL,

USA.
2 Visiting scholar, Northwestern University, Evanston IL, USA and Department
of Structural Engineering and Geotechnics, Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy.

Abstract. A new method for modeling discontinuities, such as cracks, in the ele-
ment free Galerkin method is presented. A jump function is used for the displace-
ment discontinuity along the crack faces and the Westergard's solution enrichment
near the crack tip. These enrichments, being extrinsic, can be limited only to the
nodes surrounding the crack. The method is coupled to a new vector level set
method [1] so with this approach only nodal data are used to describe the crack, no
geometrical entity is introduced for the crack trajectory, and no partial differential
equations need be solved to update the level sets.

1 Introduction

The element-free Galerkin method is a meshfree method that was first re-
ported in [2]. It was strongly influenced by the work of Nayroles et al. [3],
who developed a diffuse approximation of the finite element method called
diffuse element method (DEM). In [2] the methodology of Nayroles et al
was generalized by using moving least squares, which in fact the method
[3] yielded for the triangular elements they considered. A key feature of the
meshfree method reported in [2] is the easy treatment of discontinuities, such
as cracks. By simply truncating the domain of influence of a node, a disconti-
nuity in the approximation was easily constructed. This subsequently came to
be known as the visibility method for constructing discontinuous functions.
However, at the ends of discontinuities, such as cracktips, the visibility
method introduces discontinuities within the interior of the domain [4]. Al-
though these approximations lead to convergent Galerkin formulations [5],
the quadrature of the weak forms are quite difficult. Therefore, several meth-
ods have been developed for treating the ends of discontinuities, including
the transparency and diffraction methods [4].
In this paper, we introduce a new meshless approximation for discontinu-
ous functions, and in particular cracks. This approximation is motivated by
the eXtended Finite Element Method [7] and the Partition of Unity method
proposed by Duarte and Oden [6] (h-p clouds) and also by Babuska and Me-
lenk [10]. The feature which is introduced here in the meshless method is the
notion of a discontinuous enrichment. The advantage of this approximation

M. Griebel et al. (eds.), Meshfree Methods for Partial Differential Equations

© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2003
38 T. Belytschko, G. Ventura, J. Xu

is that neither transparency nor diffraction methods need be used around

the crack tip. Therefore the Vr singularity is reproduced very well, and the
convergence for elastostatic problems is improved. A second advantage of this
approach is that the domain of influence of the nodes is not changed by the
passage of the crack. In three dimensional problems treated by the visibility
criterion, we often found that the domains of influence have to be quite large
to invert the moment matrix, particularly when the branch functions were
part of the basis. This significantly decreased the sparsity of the equations,
leading to rather slow computations. With the new method, much smaller
domains of influence can be employed.

2 Crack Modelling in the EFG Method

In this section a brief description of the Element Free Galerkin method is
given; full details can be found in [2,4,11,12]' where previous approximation
techniques for discontinuities are also described.
The approximation for the displacement field in the EFG method is a
function of the form

(2.1)
where aij are unknown parameters. In the above and throughout this pa-
per standard indicial notation is used: twice repeated lower case indices are
summed and indices can refer to either Cartesian components or elements of
matrices. The parameters aij are determined at each point x by minimizing,
for each displacement component i, the least square functional

Ji(X) = L w(x - XI) [aij(x)pj(XiJ) - UiJ]2. (2.2)

IEW(x)

In the above, W = w(x - XI) is a weight function with compact support,

UiJ are the nodal displacement parameters, XiI are the components of the
position of node I and W(x) is the set of nodes whose weight functions are
nonzero at x. For this reason the support of the weight function w(x - XI)
is also called the domain of influence of the node XI. Minimization of (2.2)
yields linear relations between aij and UiI so that the approximation (2.1)
can be written in standard shape function form

Ui(X) = L (/>J(X)UiI. (2.3)

IEW(x)

It should be noted that the moving least square approximation is not an

interpolant, so UiI are not the displacement components at the node I. More
discussion of this can be found in [11].
The continuity and differentiability properties of the approximation (2.1)
are inherited from the basis functions and weight functions. The commonly
 New Methods for Discontinuity and Crack Modeling in EFG 39

used basis and weights are at least once continuosly differentiable, so the
approximation is likewise continuosly differentiable.
To represent discontinuous solutions, like the ones in fracture mechanics,
the visibility criterion has been suggested in the construction of the approxi-
mation [2]. In this approach the boundaries of the body and any internal line
of discontinuity are considered opaque when constructing the domain of the
weight functions, so the support is truncated by the line of discontinuity. As
mentioned in the introduction, this requires the domains of influence to be
changed as the crack progresses and often requires large domains of influence
that decrease the sparsity of the discrete equations. In this work, we have used
an approximation motivated by the finite element method presented in [7-9].
The approximation is written in terms of the signed distance function f and
the distance from the crack tip, so as we shall see later, the approximation
and crack morphology can be treated by nodal values.
The displacement approximation is

Ui(X) = L(h(x)Uil + L ¢1(X) (ail H (f(x))) + L ¢1(X) (f3iljBj(x)) ,

IEW(x) IEWb(X) IEWs (x)
(2.4)
where ¢l are the MLS shape functions, f(x) is the signed distance from the
crack line and the jump and branch enrichment functions are defined by

H(f( )) =
x
{+1 if f(x)
-Iif f(x)
>0
<0 '
(2.5)

B(x) = ( Vr sin~, Vr cos~, Vr sin ~ sin 19, Vr cos ~ sin 19) , (2.6)

where r is the distance ofx from the crack tip XTIP and 19 = sin-1(llfll/r) is
the angle between the tangent to the crack line at the tip and the segment
x - XTIP, see Fig. 1. In (2.4) the set Wb is formed by the nodes whose
support contains the point x and is bisected by the crack line (given by the
equation f(x) = 0), see Fig. 2, and the set Ws is formed by the nodes whose
support contains the point x and is slit by the crack line, i.e. contains the
crack tip, Fig. 3. The coefficients ail and f3ilj are additional variables in
the variational formulation [7,8]. Note that the discontinuity in the branch
function coincides with the discontinuity arising from the step function due
to the way that the branch function is constructed; this was first proposed
in [7]. The discretization procedure is a standard Galerkin method, see for
example Refs. [2] or [9].

3 Examples

The solution reported here were obtained with a new vector level set method
[1]. In this method, the update of the level set due to crack growth requires
40 T. Belytschko, G. Ventura, J. Xu

/>0

/<0

Fig. 1. Distance r and angle {) of a point x w.r.t. the crack tip.

.
x
~I
~---;-.-
crack line, 1=0

Fig. 2. The elements of the set Wb(X) are the nodes XI whose support is bisected
by the crack and contains the point x.

.x

Fig. 3. The elements of the set W.(x) are the nodes XI whose support contains
both the point X and the crack tip.
 New Methods for Discontinuity and Crack Modeling in EFG 41

only geometrical operations, which are much simpler than standard level set
methods. The crack geometry is not built into the model, but it is defined
implicitly by the signed distance function. This function is stored in vec-
tor form (value and gradient) at nodes surrounding the crack surface, and
its evaluation at a generic point of the domain allows for a straightforward
evaluation of the jump enrichment (2.5).

3.1 Accuracy of the Discontinuous Enrichment

A closed form solution for a mode I crack problem can be constructed by

using the well-known near-tip stress field and prescribing the traction at the
boundary according to this field. The rigid body motions are suppressed by
the constraints at two nodes as illustrated in Fig. 4. A square patch with unit
side and a crack of length 0.5 is considered. This problem is used to compare
the performance of the enriched EFG against the visibility criterion [4]. The
near-tip stress field for a mode I crack is

(Ix = ~ cos({}/2) (1- sin({}/2) sin(3{}/2)) (3.1)

y271"r
(ly = ~ cos({}/2) (1 + sin({}/2) sin(3{}/2)) (3.2)
y271"r
Kr .
Txy = rn= sm({}/2) cos({}/2) cos(3{}/2). (3.3)
y271"r

The stress intensity factor is prescribed as Kr = 1.0 Nm- 3 / 2 , and the

following relative error in energy is computed

In(Sex - Snum)TC(sex - snum) ds:?

error in energy = (3.4)
In s'lxCsex ds:?
where C is the Hooke tensor, the subscripts "ex" and "num" refer to the
exact and computed solution, respectively. The jump function enrichment is
introduced on those nodes whose supports are cut by the crack, while the
branch function enrichment is considered on those nodes whose supports are
slit by the crack, see Fig. 4. The enriched EFG greatly increase the accuracy
of the approximation and the convergence rate is improved as well. These
results are reported in Fig. 5, where the natural logarithm of the relative
error in energy is plotted as a function of the logarithm of the mesh size h,
given by the spacing between the nodes.

3.2 Double Cantilever Beam

In this example, quasi-static crack growth in a double cantilever beam (DeB)

specimen is simulated. The geometry is shown in Fig. 6, with L = 300 mm,
42 T. Belytschko, G. Ventura, J. Xu

0 0 0 0 0 0 0

/
Jump enrichment domain
0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 o 0 0 0 0 0 0

, ,, , ,,
• • ,,, • • ,
,
0 0 0

I ,,
,
• ,0 0 0

,
I

• • • • •, , , 0 0 0

0 0 0 ;----\ 0 0 0

Branch enrichment domain

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Fig. 4. Discretization and enriched nodes for accuracy analysis. Filled circles and
squares are jump and branch enriched nodes, respectively.

-5
~ __________+-______________e
<l
Slope = 0.53

-7

:;; -9 ~ Transparency
e>
'c:"
'"
.5 ~ New method (PU enrichment)
g
'" 11
:E-

-13

_________S~I=op=e~=~0~.B~3__~------------------------V
'"
V .,
-15
-2.5 -2.4 -2.3 -2.2 -2.1 -2
In(h)

Fig. 5. Logarithms of the relative error in energy vs. logarithm of of the mesh size.
 New Methods for Discontinuity and Crack Modeling in EFG 43

h = 100mm, a = 138mm, and P = lOON. The model is plane stress, linear

elastic with Young's modulus E = 200 GPa and Poisson's ratio v = 0.3. In
all simulations, a single crack is considered so only the path is of interest.
Therefore, the problems were solved by increasing the length of the crack
by a specified increment s. The direction of s was found in each step by the
maximum hoop stress criterion.
While the loading is purely Mode I, a small perturbation in either the
loading or crack geometry triggers curvilinear crack growth, indicating that
the straight, symmetric path is unstable. Experimental results using PMMA
were obtained by Sumi and Kagohashi [13]. A simulation of the experiment
with finite elements and continuous remeshing is reported in [14]. In the
latter work, the crack growth direction was determined by a perturbation
analysis to find the angle along which Kn vanished (criteria 3). Numerical
and experimental results are compared in [15]. The axes are taken to be
aligned with the left end of the specimen, along the centerline. Results were
obtained using a relatively coarse discretization of 13 x 36 nodes with step
sizes s = 5 mm and 8 mm, respectively. A perturbation of length Llx = 12 mm
at an angle de = 2.6 degree is placed at the crack tip, resulting in a crack
path which deviates from the original straight path and curves toward the
boundary. Fig. 7 compares the experimental results to the simulated paths
for two step sizes. As we can see, the results for the finer step size obtained by
the new method, Fig. 7, show good agreement with the experimental results.

Th

~----------------~I
~-----------L------------~·
1
Fig. 6. Initial geometry of the double cantilever beam (DCB) specimen.

3.3 Crack Growth from a Fillet

This example examines the growth of a crack from a fillet in a structural
member. The experiment to be modeled is shown in Fig. 8, with the compu-
tational domain outlined with a dashed line. This experiment was designed
in [15] to investigate the effect of the thickness of the lower I-beam on crack
growth. Only the limiting cases for the bottom I-beam of a rigid constraint
(very thick beam) and flexible constraint (very thin beam) are considered. In
44 T. Belytschko, G. Ventura, J. Xu

50

40
- - Experiment
~s=5mm
--£r--s=8mm
30

20

10

140 160 180 200

a + ill.

Fig. 7. Crack path in the double cantilever beam specimen.

addition, the residual stresses due to welding between the member and the
I-beam are neglected.
The material is plane strain, linear elastic with Young's modulus and
Poisson's ratio of E = 200 GPa and 1/ = 0.3, respectively. The applied load
is P = 1.0 N and the fillet radius is p = 20 mm. The initial crack length
is ao = 5 mm. To model a rigid constraint, the displacement in the vertical
direction is fixed along the entire bottom of the computational domain. A
flexible constraint is idealized by fixing the vertical displacement at both
ends of the bottom of the domain. For both sets of boundary conditions, an
additional degree of freedom is fixed to prevent rigid body translation. The
model is discretized with 1025 nodes. We simulate crack growth with a step
size of .1a = 5 mm for a total of 14 steps. Fig. 9 show the nodes in the vicinity
of the fillet and the crack path for the rigid I-beam. The results shown are
consistent with the experimental results [15].

3.4 Beam Under 3-Point Bending

A final example is the crack growth in a beam under 3-point bending. Three
holes are located in a vertical line having an offset from the centerline. A crack
is seeded at the bottom of the beam and allowed to grow, see Fig. 10. Bit-
ten court , Wawrzynek, Ingraffea and Sousa [16] presented experimental and
numerical results for this problem which showed that based on the location
and length of the original crack, the path of the crack would either intersect
one of the holes or pass between them. Table 1 gives the dimension and lo-
cation of the initial crack for the two cases. This problem is solved by the
 New Methods for Discontinuity and Crack Modeling in EFG 45

Initial Simulated
Crack
Region

1 - - - - 375----+1·'
1--------800-------~

Fig. 8. Experimental configuration for crack growth study, Sumi et al. [15] .

.................
................. .................
.. ...............
............... ..
.................
.................
................. .................
.. ...............
.................
................. ............... ...
................. ...............
..-............a.
............... .
•••••••••

~ ~ ~ ~ . ;:(;?/!f:\:\{~~:.~::: ..:.::. ~:.:::.~-/ j ~ ~ ~ \\\:.:/"::::

.... :::.:: ..... :: .. .
.... .
:::::::::::::::::: :
.................. .. .............. ..........
..................
.................. ............. ...
.. .............
.................. ..

(a) (b)

.................
.................
.................
.................
.................
.................
................. ..................
............... ..
. ...............
................. .. ...............
............... ..
.................
.................
. ...............
. .... ,..- ..
.................
.................
.................
, ....... .
:::::: :.':/?'~'/j((.\:"::::-::::::::::
~ ~ ~ ~ ~··i:t?~·/!!~\\\{:;:\:
................... .
,
,
,
.......................... .
..........................
.......................... .
.......................... ..
......... , ' ........ ..
...................
................... . ,
, .......................... .
, .......................... .

(c) (d)

Fig. 9. Evolution of the crack path from a fillet for the case of a rigid I-beam.
46 T. Belytschko, G. Ventura, J. Xu

enriched EFG method with linear basis. The enriched EFG has the advan-
tage of yielding accurate results for stress intensity factors without additional
refinement at the crack tip. In this example the geometric data reported in
Fig. 10 has been considered with a unit load P. Two setups (setup A and
setup B) are computed. Figure 11 shows the numerical results for the setup
B with a crack increment of 0.5 in. The crack grew directly toward the center
hole. Figure 12 shows the results for setup A with increment equal 0.25 in;
the crack passed between the bottom the two holes and then passed very
close to the middle hole on the opposite side. Experimental results showed
that the crack actually curved toward the hole, this apparently could not be
captured numerically by the results reported in [16]. By reducing the crack
increment to 0.1 in, the crack curved into the middle hole as shown in Figure
13, which agreed very well with the experimental results (shown in Figure
14), although this may be fortuitous.

Table 1. Crack configurations considered for the beam under three-point bending.

Configuration Crack length a (in) Crack offset b (in)

Setup A 1.5 5.0
Setup B 1.0 6.0

r =0.25
p
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
o :
I

~ I
I

9.0 .0

10.0 10.0

Fig. 10. Schematic drawing of beam with three holes subjected to three-point bend-
ing (dimensions in inches), Bittencourt et al [16].

4 Remarks and Conclusions

The new method for discontinuity representation is particularly effective at
crack tips. The method is a discontinuous variant of the method of clouds [6],
 New Methods for Discontinuity and Crack Modeling in EFG 47

· .' :;':':.': .
· .. .:-::-:.'
"..;,' .
· ......... ...
..
:.

·<:~}tii:: '.'
)~~~~:.:
. . ..
.
'. ..

Fig. 11. Final crack for setup B with crack length increment equal to 0.5 in.

..
·· .::;.:.;,.,'
:\.,;:' .
..'::',' ..
· ·.. .. ...
,,',
..
:. . .
:::.:;..:£ .' .
.. :::*,.i ::::
·:·?/·~f: .
. . ......
··: ..;::.:::: .
..:::~~1::::: :: .

Fig. 12. Final crack growth results for setup A with crack length increment equal
to 0.25 in.
48 T. Belytschko, G. Ventura, J. Xu

. : :;,:, ........
. . : 'l...;:' .
.. .. "::.: .. "
. .. . .. .

...
. ."....y :.....
,," .. ".. ..
~ ..

....?.(:.:
.. ....
.
.." ...."

Fig. 13. Final crack growth results for setup A with crack length increment equal
to 0.1 in.

o o

o o

Fig. 14. Digitized photographs of observed crack trajectory: setup A (left), setup
B (right), Bittencourt et al. [16].
 New Methods for Discontinuity and Crack Modeling in EFG 49

but this represents the first time a discontinuity has been introduced through
these methods. It is also applicable to other meshless methods, such as finite
clouds [17], RKPM [18,19] and recent extensions such as [20]. The method
can be easily be extended to branching cracks and intersecting cracks, see
[7,21]. It can be be made truly meshless in methods such as finite spheres
[22] and others [23-25].

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