XFEM with global enrichment for 3D cracks

Scientific Conference (2015, June 17)

We present an extended finite element method (XFEM) based on fixed area enrichment which 1) suppresses the difficulties associated with ill-conditioning, even for "large" enrichment radii; 2) requires 50 ... [more ▼]

We present an extended finite element method (XFEM) based on fixed area enrichment which 1) suppresses the difficulties associated with ill-conditioning, even for "large" enrichment radii; 2) requires 50 times fewer enriched degrees of freedom (for a typical mesh) as the standard XFEM with geometrical enrichment (for the same or better accuracy level); 3) increases the accuracy level of the stress intensity factors and leads to "smooth" stress intensity variations along the crack front. [less ▲]