Special finite elements with holes and internal cracks

For the numerical treatment of stress concentration problems in plane elasticity, special finite elements with circular and elliptic holes and internal cracks have been developed. Two different variational formulations have been used to construct elements, which may be combined with conventional displacement elements. Using complex functions and conformal mapping techniques the systematic construction of trial functions is shown which not only satisfy a priori the governing differential equations but also the boundary conditions on such influential boundary portions as hole or crack surfaces. For the evaluation of the stiffness matrices of the special elements, only boundary integral computations arc necessary. The numerical results of various examples are very accurate for both functionals.