AN IMPROVED ALGORITHM OF XFEM FOR THE CRACK PROPAGATION PROBLEMS

Based on the extended finite element method and level set method, the crack propagation problem is modeled. The extended finite element method is also used to compute the stress and displacement field near the crack tip in order to determine the angle of the crack propagation. The level set method is used to represent the crack interface and the location of the crack tips, and to track the crack propagation paths. In the practice, there are some limitations judging the element types. The reason is the limitation of the level set method in judge the element types. Thusly, the advantage project which called the virtual crack method is come up. At last, two typical numerical examples are simulated for the crack propagation problems. This combined method requires no remeshing as a crack propagating, making the algorithm very efficient, and the results are present to demonstrate the accuracy of the advantage project.