Dynamic Fracture Using Element-Free Galerkin Methods

The element-free Galerkin method for dynamic crack propagation is described and applied to several problems. This method is a gridless method, which facilitates the modelling of growing crack problems because it does not require remeshing; the growth of the crack is modelled by extending its surfaces. The essential feature of the method is the use of moving least-squares interpolants for the trial-and-test functions. In these interpolants, the dependent variable is obtained at any point by minimizing a weighted quadratic form involving the nodal variables within a small domain surrounding the point. The discrete equations are obtained by a Galerkin method. The procedures for modelling dynamic crack propagation based on dynamic stress intensity factors are also described.