Development of higher-order displacement discontinuity method to simulate fatigue crack growth in brittle materials

Fatigue crack growth simulation using the moving mesh technique

“…In the framework of the scheme followed by the proposed strategy to estimate the fatigue life, both the crack tips advance simultaneously along the propagation directions determined by Equation (17), and, at crack increments of 0.5 mm, the number of cycles (ΔN) for both the tips is evaluated using Paris' law. Figure 15A compares the propagation paths predicted by the proposed method and those achieved experimentally by Pustejovsky 16 and numerically by Saijth et al, 24 Alizadeh et al, 31 and de Castro e Andrade and Leonel. 69 The figure also reports the snapshots of the computational mesh corresponding to the position occupied by crack tips marked by Roman numerals in the graph, which provides an exhaustive overview of how the mesh evolves during the numerical simulation.…”

“…The fatigue behavior of a titanium plate containing an internal oblique crack. A comparison between the proposed method and the results achieved experimentally by Pustejovsky 16 and numerically by Saijth et al, 24 Alizadeh et al, 31 achieved experimentally by Pustejovsky 16 and numerically by other numerical methodologies. 24,31,69 In this context, the best fit occurs with the results of Sajith et al, 24 which report a fatigue life smaller than that predicted by the proposed method of 1.47%.…”

“…A comparison between the proposed method and the results achieved experimentally by Pustejovsky 16 and numerically by Saijth et al, 24 Alizadeh et al, 31 achieved experimentally by Pustejovsky 16 and numerically by other numerical methodologies. 24,31,69 In this context, the best fit occurs with the results of Sajith et al, 24 which report a fatigue life smaller than that predicted by the proposed method of 1.47%. On the other hand, de Castro e Andrade and Leonel 69 and Alizadeh et al 31 report values for fatigue life higher than the proposed method of 3.84% and 11.16%, respectively.…”

“…Despite such notable properties, the FEM experiences considerable difficulties with numerical problems involving the simulation of crack propagation processes, especially when the crack trajectory is unknown in advance. 31 Indeed, in such a condition, the computational mesh must be updated continuously according to the direction of the propagation because the crack must grow along the boundaries of finite elements (FEs). The update of the computational mesh process is generally conducted through special remeshing (or adaptive) algorithms.…”

“…The FEM is the most renowned approach to studying fatigue and fracture mechanics problems because of its widespread diffusion and simplicity in modeling complex structures and advanced solid mechanics problems. Despite such notable properties, the FEM experiences considerable difficulties with numerical problems involving the simulation of crack propagation processes, especially when the crack trajectory is unknown in advance 31 . Indeed, in such a condition, the computational mesh must be updated continuously according to the direction of the propagation because the crack must grow along the boundaries of finite elements (FEs).…”