Mixed Finite Element Computation of Energy Release Rate in Anisotropic Materials Based on Virtual Crack Closure-Integral Method

Abstract

The material with anisotropic properties are becoming widely essential due to the ease to manipulate their mechanical properties in order to obtain a particular quality, insure safety or a specific behavior. Those kind of materials are considered anisotropic because their characteristics and behavior are dependent to every direction of the material’s orientation. In this work, the virtual crack closure-integral technique is implemented to a mixed finite element, in addition with the stiffness derivative procedure, to evaluate the energy release rate of crack extension in anisotropic materials. A simulation of a cracked edge rectangular plat with anisotropic characteristics is taken for example. The results obtained are in good agreement with the analytical results, making the proposed technique a good model for fracture investigation and allow it to study more complicated cases in future works.

Mixed Finite Element for Crack Analysis in Functionally Graded Material

“…A recent study by (Derouiche et al, 2021) applied the virtual crack closure-integral technique, in combination with the derivative stiffness procedure, to analyse crack extension in anisotropic materials using a mixed finite element approach. Another study by (Sami et al, 2021) focused on crack propagation and the computation of energy release rates in an orthotropic medium, utilizing the virtual crack extension technique.…”