Harmonic XFEM Simulation of 3-D Cracks

Fracture mechanics is widely used nowadays to study and analyze the failure of components/structures. Several failures in structures are related to fracture mechanics. When failure due to fracture occurs, they are mostly unpredicted, quick, and disastrous in nature. Therefore, it becomes necessary for us to pay attention to minimize the failure when designing and analyzing modern-day structures. The stress intensity factors are extracted from the HXFEM solution by volume-based interaction integral approach using the curvilinear coordinate system and are compared against the standard XFEM and the analytical result available in the literature. In this volume-based interaction integral approach, the volume is virtually extended and integrated by applying Gauss divergence theorem. The numerical results are obtained for edge and penny crack problems.