SUMMARYThe boundary ÿnite element method (BFEM (Finite-Element Modelling of Unbounded Structures. Wiley: Chichester, England, 1996, The Scaled Boundary Finite Element Method. Wiley: Chichester, England, 2003) is employed for the investigation of the order of stress singularities for several classes of three-dimensional singular stress concentration problems, namely notch, crack and laminate freeedge situations. In all cases, the BFEM results agree excellently with reference results. The required computational e ort is considerably lower compared to e.g. standard ÿnite element computations and thus establishes the BFEM as a powerful tool for the semi-analytical modelling of linear elastic solids. KEY WORDS: stress singularities; boundary ÿnite element method; cracks; notches; free-edge e ects
THE BOUNDARY FINITE ELEMENT METHOD (BFEM)The purely numerical analysis of singular elasticity problems-e.g. three-dimensional crack [1][2][3] or notch [4] situations as well as stress ÿelds in the vicinity of free edges [5] and corners [6-8] of layered structures-by means of standard ÿnite element method (FEM) analyses is computationally quite involved. Thus, there is a particular interest in introducing new and e cient analysis methods like e.g. the boundary ÿnite element method (BFEM) (BFEM, see e.g. References [9, 10], also known as scaled BFEM or consistent inÿnitesimal ÿnite element cell method), especially when detailed information on the asymptotic behaviour of the state variables-displacements, strains and stresses-in the vicinity of the singularity is desired. The BFEM combines the advantages of the FEM and the boundary element method (BEM) to a new and e cient procedure. The BFEM applies for the investigation of unbounded as well as bounded structures and as a prerequisite assumes a certain scalability of the given